The Voice
by suri29
Summary: Blaise and draco are business partners and are on a business trip. Blaise takes Draco out to dinner one night and they find themselves with none other than Hermione Granger. But why is she there? M mostly for language & discussions of sex,not too graphic
1. The House of Blues

**Sadly I am not JK Rowling so I don't own Harry Potter. *tear* I only own the plot. P.S. this is my first ever fanfiction so please review but don't be too harsh...Please?**

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><p>"Dude where are you taking me?", the blond asked. "Don't worry Drake, I know for a fact you'll enjoy where I'm talking you" replied his dark skined, Italian best friend as he drove down North Lamar street in Downtown Dallas toward their destination.<p>

Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy had been best friends since early childhood and remained friends during and after their years at Hogwarts. Now ,at age 24, they were business partners as well. After the demise of Voldemort at the hands of Harry Potter, Draco's father was sentenced to life in Azkaban thus making Draco the head of the Malfoy family and business empire. While he was a smart business man he thought that the company would florish even more if he added another equally smart business man to the mix, in comes Blaise Zabini. While his family remained neutral during the war, his father was hunted down by neo death eaters and killed for "being a blood traitor" and not being on the Dark Lord's side, thus making Blaise the head of the Zabini family and business. Draco and Blaise combined their fathers' companies and became business partners. Just as Draco had thought, by combining both businesses and both their great minds, it florished greatly; so much that they even expanded internationally.

They were in Dallas, Texas for a business meeting to negotiate a possible merger. The meeting and negotiation had taken a week and ended with a successful merger but Blaise convinced his friend to stick around for another week or so to wind down from everything and just relax. Blaise, being the international playboy that he was, had been to Dallas multiple times and knew all the hotspots and took it upon himself to show Draco a good time while they were there. On his last trip to Dallas, a couple of his friends brought him to the House of Blues. He loved the food there but what had really gotten his attention was a certain performer. His friends had finished their meal and they were just having a few drinks at the bar while a band played some music when he saw a woman step out on the stage. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw her. She was beautiful, she had gorgeous, silky curls, chocolate brown eyes, gorgeous hourglass figure and an absolutely angelic voice. But was even more shocking to him was when he realized this beautiful woman was the one and only **HERMIONE GRANGER.**

"Blaise, seriously where are you taking me?", asked Draco. "I told you Draco, I'm taking you out to dinner and a show", replied Blaise.

"And...we're here", said Blaise as he pulled into the House of Blues parking lot. "Where exactly is _here_? House of blues? I thought you said we were going to dinner not a blue house, which looks nothing like a house by the way" argued Draco. Blaise chuckled at his friend, "its not a house Draco, it's actually a restaurant/concert venue. They have live music playing while you eat dinner and there are even live performers later on tonight." Blaise had already done his research, he found out that Hermione was a regular performer here and knew she would be performing tonight.

Of course he didn't tell Draco this, he figured it would be a nice little surprise. He knew his friend had harbored a crush on the brains of the Golden Trio since their fourth year after seeing her at the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum. He also knew he was crushed when he heard of her engagement to Ronald Weasley in the Daily Prophet a year after the war was over. Then not even a year into their engagement, it was called off. The Prophet had a whole page dedicated to this news but they had no clue as to the reason for the break up. He remembered the slight glimmer of hope he'd seen in Draco's eyes after he read the news. Unfortunately, his hope went away as quickly as it came; soon after the break up, Hermione Granger disappeared from the wizarding world never to be seen or heard from again. That is until Blaise found her on his last trip to Dallas.

"helloooo, earth to Blaise, come in Blaise."  
>"Huh? what?"<br>"I said are you okay? you sort of spaced out for a few minutes there" said Draco.  
>"oh sorry man, I'm still thinking about the merger", lied his friend.<br>"Don't worry, it went off without a hitch and it will be great for our company. Tonight is all about unwinding is it not? so stop thinking about business and lets get inside, I'm starving."

Together they walked into the venue and were led to their table by a lovely hostess. "Perfect", thought Blaise "we're close enough to the stage for Draco to see Hermione but far enough so she won't see us. This promises to be quite an eventful night."

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><p>What do you guys think so far? should I continue it? If I do, Hermione will finally make her appearance on the stage and boy will Draco be shocked, but pleasantly so. anyways please review! and if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them!<p> 


	2. Would you finally tell her?

**Do I really need to repeat the disclaimer? **

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><p>Draco and Blaise sat at their table, waiting for their meal to arrive when all of a sudden Blaise asked "What would you do if your ever saw Hermione Granger again?".<p>

"What? Hermione Granger? No one has heard from her in years, not even Potter or Weasel."

"I know but, hypothetically speaking, if you happened to run into her, would you finally tell her?"

"Tell her what?"

"Come on Drake, don't play dumb with me, I know you've had a thing for her since the Yule Ball that took place our fourth year at Hogwarts."

"What ever made you think that?"

"Drake, please, stupid is not a good look for you. You aren't fooling anybody, not even yourself."

"Alright fine, I have loved her since our fourth year. Actually I've had a crush on her since our third year. After she punched me that one time, she definitely earned my respect. No one had ever stood up to me like she had, after that I started to look at her in a whole new light and saw that she was actually quite beautiful."

"Wow Drake, I never knew that. But back to my question; if you had her in front of you, would you finally tell her how you feel?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure. I mean I would love to have that opportunity but you know I have a fear of rejection, especially after what happened with Astoria."

***Flashback***

_After the war and Draco and his mother began to bring respect back to the Malfoy name. After the imprisonment of his father, Draco began working immediately to clean up the Malfoy image that his father had tarnished so much. He took over the family empire and worked hard to raise money, not for himself but for various charities. He even converted one of the family's many countryside villas into an orphanage for all the children whose parents were killed in the war and began to raise awareness for the better treatment of squibs (much like Hermione had for house elves with S.P.E.W). He converted yet another of the family's villas into a safe house for squibs that were disowned by their families._

_After Hermione announced her engagement to Ronald Weasley, Draco gave up hope on ever getting his dream girl so he began dating Astoria Greengrass. She was pretty and fairly smart but Draco alway mentally compared her to Hermione knowing no one could ever come close to her. Yet he settled with her because he genuinely thought she was a nice girl and he liked the time he spent with her._

_Then one night at one of his mother's famous galas, Astoria showed her true colors. They had been dating for about 9 months and Draco was seriously considering proposing to her. He had been thinking of the perfect way to do it and decided to do it at the end of the gala, in front of all their friends and family. _

_Astoria had grown impatient, she had expected Draco to have proposed already. I mean what could he be waiting for? Someone better to come along? She didn't think so; she was __**perfect.**__ What more could he want in a girl? She was gorgeous, smart and a pureblood. (_See, while everyone else had given up on the stupid blood supremecy thing, Astoria still thought she was better than eveyone because she was a Pureblood.)_ If he didn't propose soon, she would lose it. She couldn't wait to be the next Lady Malfoy and have all that money. She would be the most envied woman in the wizarding world, she'd be engaged to Draco Malfoy: International businessman, humanitarian, England's most eligable bachelor and of course one of the richest men alive._

_Deciding to keep herself entertained, she began filling up on champagne. Pretty soon she was completely wasted. She decided to confront Draco about not proposing sooner, but on her way she found herself with Marcus Flint. He was quite handsome now, and a pureblood and also quite wealthy (of course not as wealthy as Malfoy) so Astoria thought she might as well have a little fun with Marcus since Draco wasn't paying her any attention._

_"Hey there Marcus" she said in a seductive voice, moving in front of Marcus._

_"Hello Astoria, enjoying yourself?"_

_"Why yes, but I can think of something much more enjoyable to do with you" she said while wrapping her arms around his neck._

_"Aren't you dating Draco Malfoy?", replied Marcus. He tried to resist but he couldn't help himself. He was a guy after all, and Astoria just looked so sexy tonight so he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her closer._

_"Yes, but that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun with you, does it?" she asked as she ran her lips along his jawline._

_Marcus smiled. "I suppose not" he said as he pulled her into a passionate kiss all while running his hands all over her perfect body._

_Draco looked all over for Astoria but couldn't find her anywhere. It was almost the end of the gala and he wanted to propose to her before everyone left. He decided to look on the balcony but as he neared the hallway that led to it he stopped at the corner. He thought he'd heard Astoria's voice so he peeked around the corner and found his girlfriend in the arms of Marcus Flint, snogging him and letting him grope her all over. He was about to run and yell at them but decided against it when he heard them start to talk again._

_"So why are you with Draco anyways? You don't seem to be very happy if you're here snogging me instead of your precious boyfriend."_

_"Isn't it obvious? I'm in it for the money. That's the only reason. He is handsome but that's just an added bonus. If he wasn't rich, I wouldn't want him even if he looked like Orlando Bloom. I mean look at him galavanting all over england helping mudbloods and squibs and treating them like they're just like us. It's disgusting."_

_Draco had heard enough, he couldn't believe he was hearing this from his girlfriend, the woman he dad intended on proposing to and if she thought she could play Draco Lucius Malfoy for a fool, she had another thing coming._

_Draco came around the corner, slowly clapping making Astoria and Marcus freeze. Astroia slowly turned to face Draco with a horrified look on her face._

_"Drake, sweetie, this isn't what it looks like."_

_"Oh, really? So you weren't just snogging Marcus flint while he groped you all while telling him that all you want from me is my money?"_

_Astoria paled at the venom in his voice. "Drake, baby, that was just the champagne talking, I love you."_

_"Of course you do...", said Draco as he turned and started to walk away._

_"Draco! wait! please let me explain!" yelled Astoria as she ran after him._

_"And to think I was going to propose to you tonignt"_

_"what? you were going to propose?", replied a dumbstruck Astoria. "well you still can! I mean I can't see why we can't just forget this little thing happened. right?"_

_In her hysteria, she hadn't realized that Draco had led them back into the ballroom where all the guests were starring and murmering._

_"Oh yea, cause I can just forget about you telling Flint that all you want is my money, and still marry you. Because that's what you're asking of me, is it not?", yelled back a very angry Draco._

_Astoria, still not realizing where she was because of her drunken state, yelled back, "alright you know what! IT'S TRUE! I ONLY WANT YOUR MONEY! you may be handsome but the way you're treating all those mudbloods and filthy squibs is DISGUSTING! Your father would be so ashamed of you if he knew you had become a BLOOD TRAITOR!"_

_This drew many shocked gasps from the crowd and finally brought Astoria out of her drunken state. She realized where she was and had such a look of horror on her face._

_"Miss Greengrass!" yelled a very angry and appalled Narcissa Malfoy "I suggest you leave my manor IMMEDIATELY or I will have you escorted out!"_

_"but, but, but" Stammered Astoria._

_"NO BUTS! I will NOT have someone as closed minded and prejudiced in my house and certainly not engaged to my son! If you will not leave I will have you escorted out.", yelled Narcissa," Twinky!" _

_A pop of apparation was heard and a small house elf wearing a tuxedo walked up. "Yes mistress?" asked the elf._

_"Please escort the lady here" she sneered at Astroia "out of the Manor. Take her outside of the wards of the Manor so she cannot apparate back in."_

_"yes mistress", Twinky walked over to a flabbergasted Astoria, grabbed onto her dress and apparated out of the Manor._

***end Flashback***

"Yea I know Drake but that doesn't mean you have to shut yourself away from love. Who knows, maybe Granger could be the one to finally be able to break down all the walls you put up", Blaise said to his best friend.

"Well we'll never know will we?", replied Draco. "Oh look here comes the waiter with our food."

As their food arrived, the band on the stage began playing some blues music. Blaise waited for Hermione to step on stage but she didn't. She probably won't be on until later, he thought.

The two best friends ate their dinner and talked about random little things like quidditch, their years at hogwarts, anything but business. As they finished their meal, Blaise ordered drinks for the both of them.

"You ready to go" asked Draco.

"Go? No way, the best is yet to come my friend so sit your arse back down."

"What are you going on about?"

"I promised you dinner AND A SHOW remember? well the show is barely about to start so sit down already."

"Alright, alright, I'm sitting down but this better be good."

"Oh trust me, it will be MORE than good" said Blaise as he smiled slyly.

Just as he said that, the curtain was brought down on the band. Not even 5 minutes later the curtain was brought back up to reveal a beautiful woman standing in front of the band and drew an audible GASP from Draco as he saw the face of the woman.

Standing on the stage dressed in black wash jeans, black lace Christian Louboutin booties and an ivory, satin, off the shoulder top that hugged her figure perfectly, was the love of his life: Hermione Granger.

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><p><strong>Okay I know I said she'd finally make an appearance and I know this isn't exactly what you all had in mind as an "appearance" but the idea of Draco's back story just popped into my mind and I had to write it. Please review! and send me your ideas if you have any! <strong>


	3. Set Fire To The Rain

**Last time I checked, I wasn't JK Rowling, hell I'm not even blonde so sadly I don't own Harry Potter.**

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><p>"I told you it would be more than good", said Blaise to his best friend at seeing his face.<p>

"You knew she would be here?"

"Yup, remember last time I came to dallas to visit some friends? Well they brought me here for dinner and afterwards when we were having drinks over by the bar she went up on stage and performed."

"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!"

"Calm down Drake. The only reason I didn't tell you is becasue you were so absorbed in business matters that you wouldn't have listened to me anyways. How many times didn't I try to get you to come to Dallas with me after that trip?"

"never."

"Thats total bullshit Drake, you know as well as I do that I tried to bring you here every chance I got but NOOO you didn't want to leave your precious company. If it wasn't for this merger you wouldn't have come to Dallas."

"..."

"yea you know I'm right. Now shut up and just enjoy yourself"

"Can she see us?"

"I don't thinks so, there are a lot of people here, but if you don't want to risk it, we can move over to the bar, there's no chance she'll spot us there."

"No it's okay, I like our spot, I can see her better. I just don't want her to run off because we're- correction- I'M here."

"You have a point, now shut up because it looks like she's about to start"

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><p>The lights were dimmed and a soft spotlight was cast on the stage. Draco noticed that not all the same instuments were on the stage anymore and some new ones were added. There was now a piano and a few chairs with violins but the drum set and one guitar were still there from the previous setting.<p>

The man behind the piano began playing, Hermione walked up to the microphone and started to sing in the most soulful and beautiful voice that Draco had ever heard.

_I let it fall, my heart,_

_And as it fell you rose to claim it_

_It was dark and I was over_

_Until you kissed my lips and you saved me_

_My hands, they're strong_

_But my knees were far too weak_

_To stand in your arms_

_Without falling to your feet_

_But there's a side to you_

_That I never knew, never knew._

_All the things you'd say_

_They were never true, never true,_

_And the games you play_

_You would always win, always win._

**"Oh my god" whispered Draco "Her voice is beautiful"**

**"I know right? I was floored when I heard her voice for the first time. Who knew she could sing like this?"**

_[Chorus:]_

_But I set fire to the rain,_

_Watched it pour as I touched your face,_

_Well, it burned while I cried_

_'Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name!_

_When I lay with you_

_I could stay there_

_Close my eyes_

_Feel you here forever_

_You and me together_

_Nothing gets better_

_'Cause there's a side to you_

_That I never knew, never knew,_

_All the things you'd say,_

_They were never true, never true,_

_And the games you play_

_You would always win, always win._

**"Do you think she's singing about the weasel?"**

**"What makes you say that?"**

**"well just listen to the lyrics, it's about a woman who was lied to by a man she loved."**

**"You're right...maybe she is singing about Weasley."**

_[Chorus:]_

_But I set fire to the rain,_

_Watched it pour as I touched your face,_

_Well, it burned while I cried_

_'Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name!_

_I set fire to the rain_

_And I threw us into the flames_

_Well, it felt something died_

_'Cause I knew that there was the last time, the last time!_

_Sometimes I wake up by the door,_

_That heart you caught must be waiting for you_

_Even now when we're already over_

_I can't help myself from looking for you._

_[Chorus:]_

_I set fire to the rain,_

_Watched it pour as I touched your face,_

_Well, it burned while I cried_

_'Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name_

_I set fire to the rain,_

_And I threw us into the flames_

_Well, it felt something died_

_'Cause I knew that there was the last time, the last time, oh, oh!_

_Let it burn_

_Let it burn_

_Let it burn_

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><p>"...Wow...just...wow", Draco finally said.<p>

"Was that not everything I promised it would be?"

"NO!"

"No?"

"It was a million times better!"

Blaise chuckled. "Now aren't you glad you finally let me drag you out on the town?"

"No shit Sherlock."

"If you liked this, just wait to see what else I have in store for you."

"What is it?"

"You're just going to have to wait, I worked too hard to make this happen and I'm not gonna ruin the surprise because of your impatience."

"Oh come on Blaise, at least a hint?"

Blaise sighed, "Alright fine, remember when I asked if you would tell her how you felt if she were here?"

"...yea?" replied Draco, not yet catching onto what Blaise meant.

"Well...she's here isn't she?"

Realization dawned on Draco, "Wait you mean we're gonna talk to her?"

"Exactly, I talked to the guy who schedules the performers, told him we're old schoolmates of her and he said he'd ask her to stick around after her performance so we could talk to her."

Draco had such a look of joy on his face, he looked like a man who'd been given another chance at life, which in some sense he was; he was being given another chance at love.

"I knew this would be an eventful night", thought Blaise as he turned to hear Hermione sing another song in her soulful voice.

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><p><strong>So there was Chapter 3. Good? No? I know you're all wondering why Hermione is in Dallas in the first place and why she and Ron broke up but I'm still working her back story out. Again if you have ideas I'd love to hear them. (PS. in case you don't recognize the song, it's Set Fire To The Rain by Adele.)<strong>


	4. The Bridge of Sighs

**Here's Chapter 4! You get a bit on insight into Hermione's life but there's still so much more to explain. please R&R! :)**

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><p>It was time for her last song of the night. The piano player began playing again and as she let the music wash over her, she began to sing.<p>

_I heard that you're settled down_

_That you found a girl and you're married now._

_I heard that your dreams came true._

_Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you._

**"Okay now I KNOW she's singing about the weasel.",hissed Draco.**

**"Possibly, but she might not be, she might just really like that song"**

**"Oh come on Blaise, listen to her. No one can sing with that much heart unless the lyrics meant something to them."**

**"I guess so..."**

_Old friend, why are you so shy?_

_Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light._

_I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited_

_But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it._

_I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded_

_That for me it isn't over._

_Never mind, I'll find someone like you_

_I wish nothing but the best for you too_

_Don't forget me, I beg_

_I remember you said,_

_"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead,_

_Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead,"_

_Yeah._

_You know how the time flies_

_Only yesterday was the time of our lives_

_We were born and raised_

_In a summer haze_

_Bound by the surprise of our glory days_

_I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited_

_But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it._

_I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded_

_That for me it isn't over._

_Never mind, I'll find someone like you_

_I wish nothing but the best for you too_

_Don't forget me, I beg_

_I remember you said,_

_"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead."_

_Nothing compares_

_No worries or cares_

_Regrets and mistakes_

_They are memories made._

_Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste?_

_Never mind, I'll find someone like you_

_I wish nothing but the best for you_

_Don't forget me, I beg_

_I remember you said,_

_"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead."_

_Never mind, I'll find someone like you_

_I wish nothing but the best for you too_

_Don't forget me, I beg_

_I remember you said,_

_"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead,_

_Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead._

As the music ended the room erupted with applause and she smiled and took a bow. Hermione loved to perform and she loved the feeling she got after every performance.

She'd never told anyone she liked to sing or that she could sing like she did. As soon as she stepped off the stage and toward her dressing room (yes she was that much of a regular performer that they gave her a dressing room) she got such a feeling of nostalgia.

It wasn't until she stepped into her dressing room and shut the door did she let flow the tears she didn't know she was holding back. She walked over to her vanity and picked up the picture she had taped to her mirror. It was a simple muggle picture of her, Harry and Ginny but it was torn after Ginny. She ran her finger along the ripped edge as nostalgia took over her again.

***Flashback***

_"Hermione Jean Granger, will you marry me?", asked Ron while on his knee, opening a black velvet box to reveal a GORGEOUS princess cut diamond set in a Platinum band covered in diamonds._

_"OH MY GOD! YES! YES! Of Course I'll marry you!", yelled Hermione as she jumped into Ronald Weasley's open arms. He wanted to twirl her around but they were on a gondola and that would have been disasterus so he just hugged her as hard as he could, only pulling away so he could put the ring on her finger._

_"It's so beautiful Ron. I love it", said Hermione while grinning from ear to ear._

_"Not as beautiful as you 'Mione"._

_"I can't wait to tell everyone, of course I'm sure they'll all just say 'ITS ABOUT TIME!'"_

_Ron laughed, "you're probably right, but I'm sure they'll still be happy for us." he said while pulling her into a passionate kiss._

_In Hermione's eyes it was the perfect proposal. He had taken her on vacation to Venice. They had been to pretty much every tourist attraction there was to see, with the exception of one: __**The Bridge of Sighs. **__Ron insisted on leaving that last and Hermione didn't protest as long as they got to see it._

_It was the last day of their vacation and Ron finally took her to see the Bridge of sighs. She'd wanted to go earlier but Ron insisted on going when it was closer to sunset. It was close to sunset when Ron led her to a Gondola and asked the gondolier to head to the Bridge of Sighs._

_As they neared the landmark Ron said, "You know, there's a local legend that says if two lovers kiss under the bridge at sunset their love will be eternal."_

_Hermione smiled as realization dawned on her, "Is this why you didn't want to come before sunset?"_

_He turned away from her looking like he was getting something out of his pocket as he replied, "Yes, but also because I thought there was no better time to do this..." and he got down on one knee and proposed._

_After she said yes, they realized they were now directly under the bridge and it was now sunset so they kissed, hoping that this was not just a legend and would in fact grant them eternal love._

***End Flashback***

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><p>Hermione was brought back to the present when she heard a knock at her door. She quickly wiped away the tears thinking that she'd cried enough over him and didn't need to waste anymore tears oh him. She made sure her eyes weren't puffy to show that she'd been crying; after touching up her makeup she opened the door and outside was her best friend Santiago.<p>

Santiago was actually also the first friend she'd made after moving to Dallas, they met when Mione had moved into the loft next door to him. She was a total newcomer and didn't know anything about how to get around or even where to go, Santiago felt bad for her and started to help her out, telling her what places were worth visiting and whatnot. With time the duo became very close and eventually became best friends, so one night Santiago took her to his workplace: The House of Blues. It was his night off but he thought she would enjoy some good food and a live show.

***Flashback***

_"Oh god I bet it feels great to be on the stage" Hermione told her new friend._

_"I suppose, I'd be terrified though, I get stage fright, plus I have not business being on that stage" laughed Santiago, "I'm a horrible singer, the only time I sing is either in the shower or when I'm super wasted."_

_Hermione laughed,"I love singing, although I've never really told anyone that, I don't think I've ever even let anyone hear me sing."_

_"really? well what if I told you I could get you up on that stage?"_

_"Seriously? I'd love that, but how?"_

_"I work here, I'm one of the event coordinators and performance booking agents here. I can get you up on that stage. As a matter of fact, we're having an amature/open mic night the day after tomorrow and we still have spots open. How about it, wanna show people what you got?"_

_"Hell yea! I've always wanted to perform on a stage in front of a crowd but never had the guts to go out and make it happen."_

_"well now, aren't you happy you know me?", said Santi smiling._

_After her first performance, people kept asking for her so much that the main event coordinator offered her a job as a regular performer. Needless to say, Mione accepted the offer right away._

***End Flashback***

"Hey 'Mione! You killed it tonight!" said Santi, "not that many people can sing Adele's songs with as much passion as she can but you sure as hell can!"

She chuckled, "Thanks Santi, I love Adele, I think the reason I can sing her songs that well is because I can relate to the songs. Anyways what brings you to my dressing room?"

"Oh right, you have a couple of male visitors waiting for you by the bar."

This didn't surprise Hermione at all, guys often asked for her after her performances. They always bought her some drinks and tried to take her out on dates but she always turned them down. She really didn't want a relationship but she certainly didn't want to be someone's "booty call" or one night stand.

She sighed, "alright, lets get this over with. The sooner I tell these boys I'm not interested, the sooner I can go back home and take a relaxing bubble bath."

It was now Santi's turn to laugh, he loved his friend's confidence. He also loved to see her shoot guys down, it was hilarious to see arrogant guys walk up to her thinking they'd sweep her off their feet just to have their asses handed to them by Hermione when she told them off for looking at her like a piece of meat.

Santi and Mione walked back into the venue and toward the bar, laughing the entire time at her past "visitors". She was actually excited to see her two new visitors, she got a thrill out of knocking arrogant guys down a couple of notches.

They neared the bar and Santi said, "hey fill me in later, I have to get back to work, Forever The Sickest Kids are performing in the music hall tomorrow and we have to get everything ready."

"Alright, I'll be sure to tell you all about how these "playboys" try to hit on me and then go home crying after I reject them."replied a smiling Hermione.

"That's my girl, give them hell!" yelled Santi as he and Hermione went their separate ways for the night.

Hermione was already thinking of clever lines to say, thinking of every possible scenario. She was not even five feet away from the bar, her two visitors turned around. Hermione gasped, she thought she was seeing things.

She was about ready to faint...standing in front of her were Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy.

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><p><strong>good? no? I know you want to know more about Ron and Hermione but I'm still working on that bit. Next chapter Draco and Hermione finally speak! and she might reveal what happened between her and ron, we'll see if I can come up with a back story I'm happy with. :)(PS the song in this chapter was <em>Someone like you<em> by Adele)**


	5. Santi is not competition

**Ch 5 already? And there's still so much more to write! No I'm not JK rowling, I'm nowhere near as brilliant or talented as she is. ENJOY**

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><p>She HAD to be dreaming. If she was, this was the worst dream she'd ever had. When she left the wizarding world she made sure no one knew where she was going. She'd told her parents but they were back in Australia and no one (besides Hermione) knew exactly where they were or even how to contact them. So how the hell was it that the two princes of Slytherin were standing in front of her and how the hell did they know she was here because by the looks on their faces they weren't very surprised to see her, well Draco kind of did but Blaise looked like it was nothing to see her.<p>

"Gentlemen..."

"Hello Hermione" replied the duo in unison, it was kind of creepy.

"You look lovely Hermione" said Blaise, "Great performance tonight by the way. I've never heard anyone sing Adele as well as you did."

Hermione was a bit taken back at his compliment, he knew who Adele was? Him? A pureblood, knew who her favorite muggle singer was? Well...she had to admit that Blaise had never really said anything negative towards or about her, or muggles in general so maybe it wasn't THAT shocking.

"Um thank you, Adele happens to be my favorite singer." replied a still somewhat shocked Hermione.

All the while Draco was just staring at her with his mouth open. Damn he thought, she looks even more amazing up close.

Blaise saw his friend gaping at the woman before him and slightly elbowed him in the ribs without Hermione noticing to bring him back to reality.

"Uh right, She's a great singer" stammered Draco "she always sings with such passion."

Hermione eyed her childhood tormentor carefully before replying, "exactly...that's why I love her music so much, she always pours her heart into every line she sings."

"Exactly..." replied Draco, not really knowing what else to say.

"Anyways" interrupted Blaise, "We'd love to catch up a bit Hermione, if thats alright with you."

"Um...yea sure, why not." She said as she led them to a private booth at the back of the room.

They all slid into the booth and remained silent for a bit, not quite knowing how to start a converstion with each other.

"So..."said Hermione, finally breaking the silence, "what brings you two to the lovely city of Dallas?"

"We were actually here on a business trip to negotiate a merger. It went as planned and we were finished with the deal in a week but Blaise here, insisted that we stay another week to wind down, relax and just get away from the business world for a bit." explained Draco.

"How interesting, last I heard, you two became business partners, combined your fathers' companies and expanded internationally." said Hermione

"That's right" said Blaise, "but that was about 4 years ago."

"Well I haven't bothered to keep up with what's happening in the wizarding world. Seems pointless to me, keeping up with something you're no longer a part of" replied Hermione with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

This went unnoticed by Blaise but not by Draco. What had happened to her that made her cut herself of completely from their world? It had to have been something big if not even Potter or the Weaselette, who was her best friend, knew anything of her whereabouts.

He desperately wanted to ask the two questions that baffled the entire wizarding world, Why did she and the Weasel break off their engagement? And why did she run away, officially dropping off the magical map? Of course, Draco liked to think he was a bit more prudent than that and knew that this was not the best time to bring either of those issues up.

So for the next hour or so, the three former classmates talked about everything there was to talk about (excluding her sudden absence from their world, and her former fiance).

They were talking about their fourth year at Hogwarts and the Triwizard Tournament when Santiago walked up to their booth.

"Hey 'Mione. I thought you would have gone home by now." Said Santi after seeing her still chatting with her two visitors.

"Oh hey Santi, this is Draco and Blaise, they're old frie-schoolmates of mine. We were just playing a bit of catch up" replied Hermione giving her best friend a smile. "wait, what time is it?"

"About midnight" replied Santi.

"Already? Crap, I have to go home and feed Louis."

"Who's Louis?" asked Draco and Blaise in unison. (again, kinda creepy)

"Louis is my cat."

"wait,isn't crookshanks your cat?" asked Blaise

" He was" she replied, a bit sad, "he ran away one day and got hit by a car. I got Louis when I arrived in Dallas. Actually he found me; Santi and I were walking around the park, Main Street Gardens, one winter evening when this poor, little, stray orange tabby kitten came out from behind a shrub and came towards us and began rubbing up against my boots. He was so small and so thin, he was shivering and I knew he probably wouldn't last too long out by himself so I took him home with me."

"I'm sorry to hear about Crookshanks, but I'm glad you found a new companion." replied Draco with a small smile.

"Thank you, it was nice catching up with you two" ,she replied warmly giving both of them a smile "but I really must be getting home."

"We can take you home if you'd like." offered Blaise.

"That's nice of you but no thanks, Santi and I always walk home together," she said, getting up and interlacing her hand with Santi's. "plus we live right here in Downtown Dallas so it's not far."

Draco felt a bit of jealousy when Hermione grabbed Santiago's hand. Was she already taken? Had this all been a waste of time? Had he just gotten his hopes up for nothing? He really hoped not, he didn't think he could take losing his dream girl twice.

"Are you sure? We wouldn't mind taking both of you home." Offered Blaise again.

Hermione smiled at his kind gesture,"Thank you for offering Blaise but really, Santi and I will walk home, our building isn't too far from here, plus its part of our routine." she said taking a minute to smile at her friend and squeeze his hand causing him to smile warmly back at her.

"Well alright then, if you insist."Said Blaise, finally giving up.

Draco finally found his voice again "well we're going to be here for the rest of the week, would you like to have dinner with us sometime?" he asked hopefully.

"I would love to, how about tomorrow night? There's going to be a band here giving a concert so I have the night off from singing."

"Sounds good" replied Blaise "would you like us to pick you up or should we just meet up somewhere?"

"Hmm how about we meet in front of The Joule Hotel around 7ish and I'll take you guys to one of my favorite places."

"That's perfect actually,"said Draco "we're staying at The Joule."

"Perfect! Then I'll meet you two at 7 outside your hotel."

"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow" replied Blaise smiling.

"Goodnight you two"

"Goodnight Hermione" said Blaise

"Have a good night Hermione." said Draco

Hermione let go of Santi's hand for a bit and gave each of them a small hug. Blaise thought Draco was about to die of happines when Hermione hugged him. She then went back to Santi and grabbed his hand again.

Hermione walked off hand in hand with Santi towards the exit. Draco couldn't help but feel jealous of Santi, he wished that was him walking her home.

Blaise seemed to pick up on his friend's jealousy as he chucked and said, "don't sweat it man, Santi is not competition."

"Oh really? what makes you think that?"

"He's gay"

"What? Are you sure? or are you just saying that to make me feel better?"

Blaise laughed,"I'm sure Drake. Last time I was here, I saw him making out with some guy and after Hermione got off the stage I happened to walk by and overheard Santi introducing her to his _**BOYFRIEND**_, Devin. And he introduced Hermione to Devin as his _**neighbor**_ and _**BEST FRIEND **_so you have nothing to worry about with Santi."

Draco breathed a sigh of relief, making Blaise laugh once more. So not all hope was lost, he still had a chance to get the girl of his dreams.

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><p><strong>So I know I said you might see more on Mione's past but I just haven't thought of a back story I'm happy with. maybe tomorrow...we'll see Please Review!<strong>


	6. THE Hermione Granger

**Blah blah blah, I'm not JK so I don't own HP, we all know the drill. I know this took longer than usual but I've been battling Writer's Block all day. I'm not TOO happy with this chapter but...it works...I guess. You get more info on Santi, and his friendship with Mione. But overall this is pretty much a filler chapter since I still have to figure out what her story with Ron will be.**

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><p>"Well...that was interesting", finally said Hermione to Santi as they walked home.<p>

"I bet it was" replied Santi. He'd known that Blaise and Draco were old schoolmates of Mione's, Blaise had told him after he asked Santi if he could set up a meeting with her before she went on stage. He thought it was about time she reconnected with someone from her old world so he set up the meeting.

"I still can't believe they're here, out of every major city in Texas, they HAD to come to Dallas."

"Well stranger things can happen right? At least it's just them and not your asshole of an ex fiance" replied Santi with bitterness. "But on a lighter note, those guys were H-O-T, HOT!"

Hermione laughed,"Yea I guess they're handsome."

"HANDSOME! Oh honey no, that has got to be the understatement of the century.", he said making her laugh even more."Are you sure we were looking at the same guys?"

"ha ha, very funny Santi. Okay yes they are both extremely hot, are you happy now?"

"Very" replied Santi smiling smugly, happy that he'd gotten her to admit she was wrong. "I think Draco has a thing for you" he said while nudging her in her side.

"Oh please, you're imagining things. Draco Malfoy does NOT like me."

"Honey please, I saw him practically drooling when you were up on stage and he looked absolutely smitten when I walked up to your booth."

"Whatever Santi, you're just imagining things. Damn I really should have brought my wand so I could cast a warming spell on my clothes, it's only early September and it's already getting cooler." , said Hermione as she got closer to Santi for warmth.

He knew all bout Hermione being a witch and being a part of the Golden Trio and being engaged to Ronald Weasley; not just becasue she'd eventually told him but because he was a wizard as well. Santi still remembered the day he found out THE Hermione Granger had moved in next door to him.

***Flashback***

_It was just a normal Saturday morning in Dallas for Santi. He was just sitting on his loveseat that he had moved over by the window so he could look out at the beautiful Dallas skyline, drinking his White Chocolate Mocha(his favorite Starbucks drink)when he heard loud noises coming from the hallway and the loft next door._

_"But no one lives next door",he thought,"Ooo! maybe someone is finally moving in!"_

_This thought excited him, he had not had a neighbor in over 2 years and the last neighbor he had was a whiny, little wannabe model named Nicole that constantly had men over. A bit like Samantha Jones from SATC, except not like her at all because he'd always thought Samantha was fabulous while he just thought of Nicole as a whore._

_"God I hope it's not another Nicole.", he thought, "is it really too much to ask for a nice, normal neighbor?"_

_Just as he thought that, there came a knock at his door. He got up, walked over, opened his door and almost dropped his coffee all over himself. Standing in front of him was HERMIONE GRANGER, heroine of the wizarding world, brains of the Golden Trio and, last he heard, Ronald Weasley's future wife._

_"Um hello, my name is Hermione and I'm your new neighbor, I just thought I'd come and introduce myself", said Hermione feeling somewhat shy._

_Santi quickly regained his posture and closed his mouth hoping that she hadn't seen him gaping at her. "Nice to meet you Hermione", replied Santi with a warm smile, "My name is Santiago Bergeron, but please just call me Santi."_

_"Bergeron? Isn't that French?"_

_"Oui cheri, I am half french and half Spanish." said Santi. Realizing they were still just standing outside his door he quickly said, "Please come in, would you like some coffee?"_

_Hermione smiled."thank you and yes I'd love some coffee."she said as she walked inside. "wow your place looks great." She looked around his loft, amazed at his modern decor that all seemed to fit perfectly together, from his sleek plasma mounted on the wall to the stainless steel appliances in his kitchen. Her new loft was relatively empty with just the basic pieces of furniture, maybe he could tell her where she could buy some more furniture._

_"Here you go" said Santi handing her a cup of coffee."Please take a seat" pointing to another loveseat across from his own in front of the massive window._

_"Thanks"_

_"So Hermione, guessing by your accent, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you aren't from around here"_

_She laughed,"you're right, I'm not. I'm from London."_

_"London? wow. What made you leave London for the fair city of Dallas?"_

_"I really just needed to get away from everything, you know, get a fresh start."_

_"Perfectly understandable. But why the states? Why Texas? I'm sure you could have gone anywhere in the world like Paris, Madrid or Venice"_

_Hermione inwardly cringed at the mention of Venice. She had thought of going there but knew that **HE** would be on her mind 24/7 if she went there._

_"In all honesty, I threw a dart at a world map and it hit Dallas." she said slightly embarrassed._

_"seriously?" laughed Santi._

_She smiled, "Seriously. But it worked out great because I have a cousin who lives here, her name is Annalee. Unfortunately she's out of town this week so she obviously won't be able to show me around."_

_"Oh well if you want a tour guide, I'd be more than happy to show you around."_

_"Really! I'd love that, but won't it be inconvenient for your job?"_

_"nonsense, it would be my pleasure, plus I work at night so I have the whole day free."_

_That day Santiago spent the whole day taking Hermione around Dallas, showing her the best restaurants, malls and museums(which is what made her the happiest). Finding that Hermione was a great girl with an amazing personality, Santi took her around, showing her the best Dallas every chance he got since then._

***End Flashback***

About 6 months after Hermione moved in (she and Santi had already become very close in that time as well), Santi revealed that he was a wizard as well. She was shocked to say the least, she'd never suspected Santi of being a wizard. She asked why he was not part of the american wizarding world. He said that he preferred living life as a muggle, not to say he didn't use magic every once and a while but he didn't feel the need to be surrounded by magical people.

After finding out he was a wizard she found out he was also a pureblood which shocked her more than him being a wizard. It turns out he was a decendant of two of the most powerful wizarding families in France and Spain. While he may not have been an active member of the wizarding world, he told her he knew exactly who she was. He even told her that he almost shit himself when she introduced herself, making her laugh like nothing else.

Since he shared his past, Hermione shared hers. She told Santi all about Ron proposing and then what led up to their news shattering break up. She'd never told anybody what had really happened with her and ron, not even Harry and told Harry the gist of what he did but she didn't give any details. Everyone else just knew it was something big and she knew ron would be too embarrassed to tell them because he knew they would never take his side. But something about Santi made her feel secure, she knew he would never betray her so she felt no regrets after telling him the whole story.

Santi knew that what she had told him was very private and loved that she trusted him enough to share such a big secret with him. Since then, they became inseperable and each others confidants.

Because of all their talking and arguing about whether or not Draco liked Hermione, the walk to their building seemed shorter than usual and pretty soon they were both standing in front of the doors of their own respective lofts.

"Well goodnight 'Mione. You should come over in the morning,we'll can go grab some Starbucks since you don't have to work tomorrow. We can chat about what you should wear on your hot date with Draco Malfoy.", he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

She laughed at her friend,"Alright I will, and its NOT a date, Blaise is gonna be there too."

"You never know, he could suddenly catch a bug and leave you on your own with Draco ALL NIGHT" he smiled wickedly.

"Whatever, you have an overactive imagination. I'll see you in the morning Santi. Goodnight", she said opening her door and going inside.

"This won't be a date. It will JUST be a nice dinner with some old schoolmates. And Draco DOES NOT like me...that's IMPOSSIBLE...right?", She thought as she closed her door and locked it behind her.

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><p><strong>So how was it? like I said I wasn't <strong>**all that happy with the chapter but it fit...kinda. Please review! :)**


	7. Memories of 12 Grimmauld Place

**So this is a relatively short chapter compared to the previous ones but I hope you'll enjoy it just the same. This one will focus on Harry instead of Hermione since some of you have messaged me asking when I would be bringing the other characters into the story. Well here it is! I hope you aren't too disappointed with it.**

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><p>It was yet another dreary, rainy day in London. "I wonder what Hermione is doing right now.", thought Harry as he stared out the window of his bedroom at 12 Grimmauld place. He had not heard from Hermione in over 4 years but he never forgot her birthday (September 19th) and thought of her every September.<p>

Actually he thought of her quite often, not just in September. He missed his best friend dearly. He remembered the last time he saw her, not then knowing that it would really be the very last time he would see her for a long time.

***Flashback***

_Harry was sitting on his a chair in front of the fire in the living room just drinking some tea when he heard the doorbell ring. Who could be visiting at this late hour he thought as he went to open the door._**  
><strong>

_"Hermione, what's wrong?", he asked when he saw the crying woman standing outside his door._

_"He-he" she blubbered._

_"He what hermione? Come inside, it's cold and it looks like it's about to rain." he suggested as he pulled her inside._

_"Here sit down", he led her to the living room and sat his hysterical best friend down on the couch in front of the fireplace._

_"I broke up with him Harry, I broke up with Ron.", she said, finally able to stop crying long enough to speak._

_"What!" gasped a shocked Harry."But why? You were already planning the wedding! It was set for next March!"_

_"I-I just can't marry him, not after what he did." she sobbed out._

_"What-What did he do Hermione?" He asked in a concerned voice. What could Ron have done to make Hermione this sad and break off the engagement._

***End Flashback***

After he calmed Hermione down, she told him what happened. She had caught Ron cheating with some girl. This shocked him but he felt that there was more to it than what she had told him, but she'd looked so shattered that he didn't want to hurt her even more by pressing the issue.

She'd been much too distraught to make it back home on her own so Harry insisted that she stay the night. She tried to fight him on it but eventually relented and stayed the night.

The following morning when Harry went to wake up Hermione, he found nothing but an empty room and a note on the bed.

_"I just can't stay"_ was all it said. It wasn't until a few days later, when he went to check on her in her flat, did Harry realize her note didn't just mean stay at 12 Grimmauld Place.

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><p>"Harry?", came a voice from behind.<p>

Harry turned around to find his girlfriend standing in the doorway of his bedroom.

"Hey, I thought you weren't gonna be home until later."

"I was but work at the Quibbler was slow so when I just sent everyone home when we finished our usual errands.",replied Luna walking over to Harry to give him a hug.

Everyone expected Harry and Ginny to get together after the war, and they did but they soon realized they were never meant to be anything more than friends. They broke up but were still very good friends. Harry always took Ginny out to lunch whenever she was in town and not touring or in training for the Holyhead Harpies.

Soon after their mutual break-up, Luna and Harry ran into each other at a cafe. They had a great time and decided to have dinner the following night. They haven't looked back since.

"I've interruped a deep thought haven't I? I can see it growing smaller in your eyes."

"I was just thinking about Hermione, her birthday is this month."

"You really miss her don't you?"

"Yeah" said Harry smiling sadly, "It's been over 4 years since I've seen or heard from her. We've never been apart this long. She hasn't written, and I have no way of knowing where she is or if she's alright."

Luna gave Harry a comforting smile as she rubbed his back soothinly,"Don't worry, I'm sure she's fine. And I'm sure she'll find her way back too us soon enough."

Harry smiled at his girlfriend, she always knew just what to say to comfort him, "I don't think I say this enough, but i love you."

It was Luna's turn to smile,"I love you too Harry."

The couple stayed standing in front of the window embraced, listening to the rain come down slowly.

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><p><strong>There you have it. Yes I put Harry with Luna, I don't mind Harry with Ginny but this is MY story and I want him with Luna. :) oh and yes Ron did something more than just cheat to make Mione leave him but like I wrote in the last chapter, only Mione, Ron and Santi know the whole story. Please review! <strong>


	8. Starbucks and Surprises

**Again a short chapter but in my defense I'm literally writing this as I go, I don't have each chapter planned out already. When I posted the first chapter I half expected for you all to tell me it sucked and that I shouldn't bother with it. Luckily you all did the exact opposite so for that I thank you. enough rambling here's chapter 8.**

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><p>Sunlight poured through Hermione's bedroom window. But that wasn't what finally got her up. Louis ran into her room, jumped onto her bed and began sniffing her face, his whiskers tickling her nose making her wake up.<p>

"Alright, alright, I'm getting up" she laughed as she got out of bed and stepped into her slippers.

She walked to her kitchen and pulled out a can of cat food. She picked up Louis' food and water bowl and put fresh water into the first bowl and after she opened the can, poured the contents into the other bowl.

Louis started to rub up against her legs and meowing, growing impatient and wanting his food already.

"Calm down Louis.", she said finally putting down both bowls,"Now be good and behave yourself this morning, I'm going to go out for a while with Santi. I don't want to come home and find that you've used very piece of furniture as your own personal scratching post."

Louis just meowed in reply making his owner chuckle.

Hermione went back to her room to take a shower. After she got out she dried her hair; she was so glad it had gotten easier to manage as she got older. It was no longer the frizzy nightmare that had gotten her teased during her years at Hogwarts. Her lusious brown hair now fell below her shoulders in soft curls.

She went to her closet to pick out her outfit for the day. Remembering last night when she started to feel cool but it was too warm to bust out her jackets she settled on beige shorts, a navy tube top with lace, and a beige long sleeve cover up. She paired it all with white thigh high stockings with lace at the top along with suede navy knee high boots. She finished by opting for a simple look, only applying foundation, mascara and lip gloss.

Once dressed she grabbed the sandy colored Louis Vuitton tote bag, that Santi had convinced her to buy on their last trip to Northpark Mall, checked on Louis and found him curled up, asleep in on his pet bed before finally heading next door to Santi's .

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><p>Santi had just finished getting ready when he heard knocking at his door. He walked out of his room, ran to the door, opened it to reveal a very adorably dressed Hermione Granger.<p>

"Oh my god Mione! You look so cute!", he gushed.

"Thanks santi, you don't look too bad yourself" she teased.

He was wearing dark wash jeans, a white american eagle t-shirt with a big navy silhouette of a flying eagle on the front and navy blue chuck taylor converse.

Hermione laughed. "What's so funny missy?" asked her best friend.

"It's just that I noticed that we're somewhat matching, we're bothing wearing navy." Santi looked at both of their outfits and laughed after realizing she was right.

"Well great minds think alike." he said," and we ARE best friends after all.

"You have a point" she replied smiling, "so you ready to go?"

"yea let my just get my keys to lock up."

Once Santi had locked his door, the duo walked downstairs and out their building, hand in hand as always,and headed to their favorite Starbucks.

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><p>Blaise was used to waking up early and he would make no exception now just because he was on vacation. He got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. (being as wealthy as he and Draco were they made sure their stay in Dallas would be as pleasant as possible so they splurged and booked the penthouse suite which was basically like a two story condo.) Draco was still asleep, unlike Blaise he took advantage of them being on vacation and slept in.<p>

As Blaise was walking downstairs to the main level of their suite he suddenly got a weird feeling, like there was someone else there. He quickly dismissed it and walked toward the kitchen. What he saw when he reached the kitchen nearly caused him to pass out from shock. Sitting on the counter, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the daily prophet, (Blaise made sure they still recieved the paper every morning even in Dallas to keep up with home.) was his girlfriend and chaser for the Holyhead Harpies, Ginny Weasley.

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><p><strong>DUN DUN DUN! :P if you looked at my profile you'll see that besides Dramione I like HarryLuna and Blaise/Ginny as couples as well so I figured why not use them in my favorite story. Before you ask, NO, Ron will not be with Pansy since I also like that pairing. Pansy won't even be in this story...unless it becomes relevant to the story down the line. But as of now I have no plans of bringing Pansy. Don't forget to review please!**


	9. Breakfast at La Madeleine

**Okay so personally I think this chapter is kinda messy, especially the first half but like I said, I write as I go and this is what my mind comes up with. I have Mione's back story all figured out now but I'm not sure how to work it into the story. If you have any suggestions please feel free to message me. And yes I have a little back story for how Ginny and Blaise got together but again I'm not sure how or if I should work it in.I'm through rambling, here's Chapter 9!**

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><p>"Ginny?" asked Blaise slowly, finally able to find his voice again.<p>

Ginny put down her coffee cup and paper and looked over at her boyfriend smiling.

"Blaise!"she shouted after jumping down from the counter. "did you miss me?" she asked while running to her boyfriend and throwing her arms around him.

"Of course I've missed you babe, but aren't you supposed to be on tour with the Harpies? I thought you had a match tomorrow." asked a still surprised Blaise closing his arms around her waist.

"I did but they forfeited the game, their seeker got hurt during their last practice session and their replacement has the flu so they didn't have enough players causing them to forfiet. And that was going to be our last game before we started training for the playoffs so now I have a whole week off before we head back to training. And since I haven't been able to see in in a while, I figured I'd spend my week off with you. So I asked your secretary where you were staying and apparated here.", replied a smiling ginny before pulling Blaise in for a passionate kiss.

"What the fuck is all the noise for, I'm trying to slee- WOAH...Hey Ginny." replied a sleepy Draco who was jolted awake at the sight of his best friend's redheaded girlfriend.

Ginny laughed, "Hey Draco, sorry to woke you up. I just couldn't contain myself after seeing Blaise for the first time in almost a month."

"I noticed" teased Draco, "and don't worry about it, better waking up to this than a blaring alarm clock."

"Have you had any breakfast yet?" asked Blaise.

"No not yet, I've just had coffee." replied Ginny.

"Well how about we all go out to breakfast? I know this great place called La Madeleine that's not too far from here.", said Blaise.

"Sure" said Draco, "I'll just take a quick shower get dressed and we can go."

"Same here" said Blaise," How about you Gin? Do you want to get settled before we go out?"

"No it's fine, I already put all my stuff in the empty room upstairs...it that's alright with you two. I could always just check into a different suite."

"No that's perfectly alright, I'm in the room downstairs, so you and Blaise can have the two rooms upstairs.", replied Draco before heading back to his room

"Thanks Draco!" shouted Ginny after him.

"Alright well Draco and I are going to go get ready. We shouldn't be long.", said Blaise, giving his girlfriend a quick kiss before heading upstairs to shower.

Sure enough, Draco and Blaise were dressed and ready in less than 20 minutes.

Once they were all ready, the trio walked out of the Joule Hotel. Rather than taking their rental car, Blaise convinced his companions to walk to the restaurant since the weather was cool but still comfortable; and he just liked the idea of taking a relaxing walk with his girlfriend (...and Draco...but definitely more Ginny).

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><p>"Hi welcome to Starbucks, what can I get you?" asked a friendly cashier.<p>

"I'll have a Grande White Chocolate Mocha cappuccino please.", replied Santi.

"And I'll have a Vente Caramel Macchiato." replied Hermione.

"Coming right up" said the smiling cashier.

Santi and Mione sat down on two chairs not too far from the bar so they would be able to get their drinks quickly.

"Sooo..." drawled out Santi.

"Yesssss?' replied Mione.

"Are you excited about tonight?"

"What's tonight?" replied hermione, feigning ignorance.

"Don't play dumb with me Mione, you know exactly what I'm talking about."said Santi. "Are you ready for your DATE with the delicious Draco Malfoy?"

"IT IS NOT-"

"Grande White Mocha and Vente Caramel Macchiato are ready"

"ugh hold on, I'll go get our order.", said Hermione, getting up to get their coffee.

When she got back she said, "Now, like I was about to say before I was interrupted, IT IS NOT A DATE. It is just a dinner between old classmates, and you keep forgetting that Blaise will be there as well."

"Yea, yea but that doesn't mean you'll ALL be together all night, what if Blaise goes straight back to the hotel after dinner but Draco sticks around, hoping to get some _DESSERT_" he said emphasizing the last word.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at her best friend,"WHATEVER" she said."I'm done talking about this for now Santi. NOW, if you're done, how about I treat you to breakfast? I didn't eat anything before I left home and I'm STARVING."

"Sounds good" said a smiling Santi,"Do you mind if I pick the place?"

"Not at all."

"Alright well how about we head over to La Madeleine in the San Jacinto Tower?"

"Sure, I love their Egg Crêpe Champignon.", said Hermione

"Oh god me too but I love their French Country breakfast plate even more.", he said, practically drooling.

So the two best friends walked out of the Starbucks at the Fairmont Hotel arm in arm and headed down Ross Avenue toward the San Jacinto Tower, both unknowing of the surprise that was in store for them, well for Hermione at least.

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><p><strong>So there you have it. I was thinking of already have them run into each other in this chapter but decided against it because I figured if I dedicated a whole chapter to it I would be able to put more detail in it without having a SUPER long chapter. Don't forget to review!<strong>


	10. Croissants and Quick escapes

**Okay so this is getting back to the length of the first couple of chapters...kinda. Its an okay chapter but again I've avoided Hermione and Ginny talking in this one because I'm not sure how I want their conversation/possible argument to play out, we'll see what I come up with tomorrow. Enjoy!**

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><p>Mione and Santi were the first to arrive at the French BakeryRestaurant. They sat down at a table near the back that was next to the window that faced the Chase Tower.

"Hello, welcome to La Madeline, my name is Valerie and I will be your waitress this morning. What can I get you each to drink?"

"I'll have a Raspberry Lemonade please" replied Hermione.

"and I'll have a mango iced tea", replied Santi.

"Alright, one raspberry lemonade and mango iced tea coming up."

Neither of them bothered looking at the menu since they already knew what they wanted to order.

"Alright so even though you won't acknowledge this as a date, don't you dare tell me you're just taking them to freaking Chipotle or freaking TGI Fridays in the west end for dinner." said Santi.

"Hey! I thought you loved Chipotle AND TGI Fridays" replied Mione, "but for your information, no I am not taking them there or anywhere in the West End for that matter."

"Oh thank God."

"Shush Santi. I'm taking them to The French Room at the Adolphus Hotel."

"Oooo, how fancy" said Santi, "you say this isn't a date, yet here you are taking him to one of, if not THE best restaurants in Dallas."

"It's NOT a date! I just want to show them the best of Dallas and like you said, The French Room is THE BEST restaurant in Dallas."

Just then, Valerie came back to their table with their drinks.

"Here you are, one raspberry lemonade and one mango iced tea." she said, placing the drinks down. " Are you both ready to order?"

"yes we are" replied Hermione sweetly." I'll have the Egg Crêpe Champignon and a blackberry cream cheese Croissant."

"And I will have the French country breakfast thank you."

"Alright, I will be back shortly with your order." replied Valerie before leaving their table.

"Hey I'll be right back; I'm heading over to the restroom. I seriously should have ordered a tall instead of a vente." said Hermione, getting up.

Santi laughed. "Alright, but hurry back. We still have to discuss your wardrobe for tonight's 'non-date'."

"Well it's NOT a date! And I won't be long." she said walking away from the table and towards the ladies' room.

* * *

><p>Blaise, Draco and Ginny walked into La Madeline and sat down at a table that was next to the same window as Santi and Mione's table, except they were closer to the front entrance whereas Santi and Mione were further back and closer to the side building entrance.<p>

Blaise and Ginny sat together and were facing the front entrance and Draco sat on the other side of the table by himself facing the back of the restaurant.

"Hey that person looks familiar." thought Draco as he stared at the man sitting near the back of the restaurant looking out the window; "wait! I know who that is, it's Santi. And if Santi's here then Hermione can't be far behind."

Sure enough, as soon the thought entered Draco's mind out came Hermione from the ladies' room looking gorgeous as ever.

"Oh my god she looks beautiful." He thought, "What I wouldn't give for her to be mine."

As Hermione walked back to her table, she caught a flash of platinum blond hair. She looked up and saw Draco Malfoy staring at her. She gave him a small smile then froze when she saw a flash of red. Sitting next to Blaise Zabini was Ginny Weasley.

* * *

><p>Hermione quickly looked away and sat down at her table, facing the back instead of next to Santi like before.<p>

"Hey Mione are you alright?" asked Santi in a concerned voice "you look like you've just seen a ghost."

"No I'm not alright, and I did see a ghost, a ghost from my past." said Hermione, almost hyperventilating.

"Whoa there, calm down Mione. Tell what happened."

"Look toward the front entrance."

"Why?"

"Just do it." She hissed.

"Alright…oh hey there's Draco and Blaise. Wait, who's the redhead snuggling up to Blaise?"

"That's Ginny, Ginny Weasley."

Santi's jaw dropped, "as in your best girl friend from London and your would have been sister in law?"

"The very same" said Hermione "Oh god what am I going to do? I'm not ready to see her again, I'm barely getting used to the idea of Blaise and Draco being here. WAIT! You don't think they've told her I'm here do you? If she knows, she'll tell Harry and he'll come and start asking questions that I don't want to answer."

"Mione, sweetie, calm down" instructed Santi "I'm sure they haven't told her a thing. It doesn't take an idiot to figure out that you haven't kept in touch with anyone for a reason. I don't think they'd betray your trust like that."

"I hope you're right, I really don't want to deal with all of this right now."

Just then Valerie came out of the kitchen with their food. "Here you go" she said "is there anything else I can get you?"

Realizing that his best friend was more than frazzled, Santi took action, "yes actually, I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience but can you take this back and make it to go? We just received an urgent call and can't stay to eat here."

Valerie just smiled sweetly; not looking the least bit irritated, said "Of course I can, I'll just put it all in to-go containers. Just pick it up at the front cash register, pay for your order and you'll be good to go."

Hermione's eyes widened. She didn't want to go anywhere near the front entrance because she knew Ginny would see her and recognize her.

Santi immediately picked up in his friend's discomfort at the mention of walking past the other table and toward the front entrance.

"Don't worry Mione, I'll go pay and pick up the food, you wait here and we can leave through the side entrance."

"Oh sorry you can't do that, there is some construction going on outside near that entrance so for the time being it is shut. You can only leave through the front" said Valerie before heading back to the kitchen to make the to-go dishes.

"FUCK" whispered Hermione, realizing there was no way of escaping the dreaded encounter.

"I'm sorry Mione but it looks like there's no way around this" said Santi

"Damn it."

"Well if it helps in any way, you can walk on my right side and that way there's a bit smaller chance that she'll see you."

Hermione gave her friend a small smile, "thanks Santi."

* * *

><p>"I wonder where the waiter is with our food" said an impatient Ginny Weasley.<p>

"We just ordered five minutes ago babe, I'm sure it will get here soon."

"Alright well as long as we're waiting, I'm going to go use the ladies' room."

Draco's eyes widened as she got up, would she notice Hermione? He hadn't mentioned her presence to Ginny because he figured there was a reason she didn't already know Hermione was in Dallas and it wasn't his place to tell her.

He held his breath as she got up and noticed Santi looking over at them and told Hermione something. Before Ginny walked by them, Hermione pulled open the local newspaper and buried herself in it, not putting it back down until Santi told her that Ginny had already gone into the ladies' room.

Draco let out a sigh of relief. Just then Hermione and Santi got up and walked past them, toward the cashier.

"Hermione!" shouted Blaise making her freeze.

"Blaise, hi." She said turning around and forcing a smile," hey Draco. What are you two doing here?"

Santi pulled away from his best friend and headed to the cashier to pay for their food and pick it up.

"We're here for breakfast; I take it you're here for the same?"

"Yea, but an emergency came up so we're taking our breakfast to go."

"Oh, well one more thing before you go, I won't be able to make it to dinner tonight but you and Drake should totally go out and have fun." said Blaise smiling widely, earning him a deadly glare from his best friend.

"Yeah sure," said Hermione, not really paying attention to the conversation. She just wanted to get out of there before Ginny came out again.

"Here's Draco's cell number" said Blaise, handing Hermione a card, "just call him later if your emergency takes up your evening as well."

"Thanks" said Hermione taking the card. "Now if you'll excuse me, Santi and I really have to be going."

"Hermione?"

Hermione froze but managed to see Ginny Weasley standing near the table that she had previously occupied and staring at her like she was a mirage.

Santi saw the scene before him and with food in hand, ran to his best friend and pulled her toward the exit and out the door, leaving behind a very shocked Ginny Weasley and an apologetic looking Blaise and Draco.

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><p><strong>So what did you think? I'm sorry for all the cliff hangers but I think that just adds more suspense and intrigue, don't ya think? Don't forget to review!<strong>


	11. It's a date

**So here's chapter 11! You don't really get much of Ginny's reaction in this (I'm saving that for the next chapter because she's more than PISSED at Blaise for not telling her anything) plus I'm thinking of adding a bit of Harry in next chapter as well (after ginny gets through with Blaise, she may or may not tell Harry what she knows). Anyways, ENJOY!**

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><p>"FUCK!" shouted Hermione as she and Santi ran away from the restaurant.<p>

Santi continued to pull his friend along until they were no longer in sight of the restaurant. Soon enough they found themselves in the Arts District. They continued walking until they were behind the Cathedral and in front of the Meyerson Symphony center. On the outside of the center were a couple of steel tables and chairs, Santi led Hermione to one of these table and sat her down so they could finally eat their breakfast.

"How are you feeling Mione?"

"Like I'm completely fucked." Replied Hermione absentmindedly "If only Blaise hadn't stopped us, we could have easily gotten away without Ginny noticing."

"Well you might not like what I'm gonna say but, maybe it's a good thing she saw you."

Hermione just stared at her best friend like he'd suddenly sprouted a third head," HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT! NOTHING GOOD CAN COME OF THIS! Pretty soon Harry will be here looking for me and he's gonna wanna know why I left in the first place; I'm sure he's figured out that I didn't tell him the whole story the last time I saw him."

"I know you may not think this is good but Mione, it's been over four years. Don't you think you've run from this long enough? It's time for you to let go of the past so you can finally move on, and you can only do that if you tell everyone the truth. It's not like they can really blame you for leaving him after what he did."

"I know that but what if they hate me for leaving them as well?"

"If they can't see why you had to get away and forgive you then you're better off without them."

Hermione just gave her friend a small smile in thanks for comforting her. They ate their breakfast in comfortable silence. After finishing, Santi decided that the only thing that would make her feel better would be a bit of retail therapy so again the left hand in hand and walked to their new destination: Neiman Marcus.

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><p>Back at La Madeleine, Ginny was still recovering from the shock of seeing her long lost best friend for the first time in over four years.<p>

She was sitting down staring blankly at her food that had arrived shortly after Hermione ran away. Blaise had to guide her to her chair since she was pretty much frozen on the spot, still trying to figure out if she had just imagined it all.

"Ginny? Babe, are you alright?" finally asked Blaise.

"Did I imagine it?'

Blaise paused before answering, "No sweetie, you didn't. That was really Hermione."

She looked up to see her boyfriend and his best friend's concerned faces.

"You two don't look too surprised to see her. In fact if I heard correctly you two had previous plans to have dinner with her tonight."

Both friends looking at each other, both hesitating to answer but eventually Draco spoke, "Um we did. You see, we already knew Hermione was in Dallas and had made plans to have dinner with her."

This caused Ginny to sit straight up, turn to her boyfriend and give him a death glare.

"YOU KNEW WHERE SHE WAS AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!" she shouted, gaining them looks and murmurs from other people in the restaurant.

"Ginny please calm down" whispered Blaise "People are looking at us."

Not wanting to cause a scene, she did as she was told and sat down. "Fine but we WILL be discussing this after breakfast." She hissed at Blaise.

The trio ate their breakfast in awkward silence. Once they were all finished, they paid the bill and left the restaurant.

Once they were outside, Ginny turned around and glared at the men behind her. "Alright now tell me EVERYTHING you know and explain WHY THE FUCK YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU KNEW WHERE MY BEST FRIEND WAS!"

Draco was the first to speak up, "In all honesty, I barely found out Hermione was here yesterday; Blaise here is the one that knew the whole time. As for why I didn't tell you…I didn't feel like it was my place to tell you." He felt bad for throwing his friend under the bus but hey he was a Slytherin after all and they were all about self-preservation.

His best friend glared at him but he wasn't angry, he didn't want to admit it but if the situation was reversed, he would have done the same.

"Well, since I've said all I had to say, I will leave you two to talk everything out. I'm in the mood for a bit of retail therapy; now if you'll excuse me I will be heading to Neiman Marcus, if you need me just call."

Before Blaise or Ginny could stop him, Draco left the couple and headed toward Neiman Marcus in order to try and forget the somewhat unpleasant surprise at breakfast, and he also wanted to pick out something to wear for his date- I mean, dinner, with Hermione.

* * *

><p>"Alright, where should we do first? Shoes, accessories or clothes?" asked an excited Santi.<p>

Hermione laughed, her best friend loved shopping even more than she did.

"Um you pick."

"Alright, let's get you some new clothes first! Now is the date still on? Are you still taking him to The French Room? If you are then we should start by looking at some nice evening dresses."

"Oh god I totally forgot about that, I told Blaise that I would still go to dinner with Draco. Damn it. Although, Blaise did give me Draco's cell number, maybe I should call and cancel."

"Cancel what?" said a voice behind the duo causing them to turn around.

Standing before them was Draco Malfoy.

"Oh…hey Draco" said Hermione "I was thinking about canceling-"

Santi quickly interrupted by saying "she was thinking of canceling her performance tomorrow so she can have another day off to digest everything that has happened lately."

Hermione glared at her friend but did not contradict his lie. "Oh well I think that's a great idea" said Draco "with everything that's happened I don't think just one day is enough to digest it all."

Hermione just nodded in agreement.

"So Draco" asked Santi "what brings you to Neiman Marcus?"

"This is somewhat embarrassing to admit but I came for a bit of retail therapy. Ginny figured out that we already knew that you were here and got really mad. I explained that I thought it was not my place to tell her and sort of just left Blaise to face the wrath of his girlfriend."

Both Hermione and Santi laughed; Santi because of the idea of Draco leaving Blaise with the angry redhead and Hermione because she knew how Ginny was when she got angry and could already picture Blaise cowering in fear of a screaming Ginny.

"And what brings you two here?"

Hermione replied this time, "Actually we also came for a bit of retail therapy."

"You should totally join us Draco. I'm sure Mione would LOVE to have a non-gay male opinion for once" said Santi, emphasizing LOVE while lightly nudging Hermione in the side but not so much that Draco would notice.

"I'd love to, that is if you don't mind Hermione."

"Of course she doesn't mind, RIGHT MIONE?"

"….right" she finally said.

"okay so come on you two we have HOURS of retail therapy ahead of us."

* * *

><p>True to Santi's word, they spent roughly three hours shopping for clothes, shoes and accessories for Hermione and then another two hours shopping for clothes, shoes and cologne for Draco and a bit for Santi as well.<p>

It was while they were paying for everything and Santi was off getting last minute but "VERY necessary" accessories for himself, Draco finally got the courage to say to Hermione "I know that today has been pretty rocky but I'd still love to go out to dinner with you tonight."

Hermione couldn't keep herself from blushing; maybe it wasn't such an impossible thing that Draco liked her.

"I would love to" she smiled "but since Blaise won't be joining us, I think I'll take you to a different restaurant than I planned on taking the two of you. It's much more casual than what I had planned, if you don't mind"

"Of course not" he said trying to keep himself from smiling like an idiot "Should we still meet in front of the hotel?"

"Um well if you don't mind, how about we meet at my place? I'm guessing Ginny is either staying with you or at least at the same hotel and I'm not ready for that yet."

"I completely understand, and you are right, she's staying with us in our penthouse suite. But I don't know where you live so…"

"Well you could come back with me and Santi and grab some lunch with us if you'd like. That way you'll know where to meet me."

"It's a date" smiled Draco.

Just then before Hermione could tell Draco that it was NOT a date, Santi came out of the elevator. "Alright, I now that I have every necessary piece, you ready to go Mione?"

"Yea, I hope you don't mind but I invited Draco over for lunch as well."

"I don't mind, now if you two are finished with your purchases, I think it's about time we get some lunch. We've been at this for five hours and that's finally taken a toll on my stomach, I'm starving!"

Hermione and Draco both laughed at Santi's flamboyance but truth be told they were starting to get hungry themselves. After gathering all their bags the trio walked out of Neiman Marcus together and walked back to Hermione's loft.

* * *

><p><strong>What did you think? Like I said, for those of you that were unhappy with what a relatively small reaction Ginny had, that will have a chapter all on it's own so don't go yelling at me because you're not satisfied with her small part in this chapter. Okay now I really need your opinion, since the next chapter will (for the most part) be Ginny's reaction to everything should I have her tell Harry that she knows where Hermione is? Please review, it's what motivates me to continue the story :)<strong>


	12. Confrontations and Kisses

**Here is chapter 12 and Ginny's awaited reaction! As some of you suggested, she will NOT tell Harry about Hermione, at least not until she talks to Hermione herself. Enjoy!**

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><p>Ginny stormed back into their hotel suite slammed her bag down on the sofa while Blaise slowly came into the room and closed the door, still too afraid to approach his furious girlfriend.<p>

"BLAISE! GET OVER HERE NOW!" she yelled from the living room.

Blaise immediately appeared in the living room, not daring to defy the redhead when she was in one of her moods.

"Now, will you care to explain to me HOW THE HELL YOU FOUND OUT WHERE MY BEST FRIEND WAS AND WHY YOU DIDN'T BOTHER TO TELL ME!"

"Gin, babe, please calm down. I'll tell you whatever you want to know but not if you're going to keep yelling at me" said Blaise calmly.

"Fine" she huffed "Now start talking."

Blaise sighed, "Alright well do you remember the last time I came to Dallas?"

"Yes, it was about a year ago, for your friend's wedding right?"

"Right, well a couple of days before the wedding I went out with some other friends. They took me to this restaurant/concert venue called The House of Blues. After we ate dinner we stuck around and hung out at the bar, then a band on stage started playing and a woman came on stage to perform. She sang a couple of songs and it wasn't until after she finished and looked up that I noticed it was Hermione."

"That still doesn't explain WHY you didn't tell me that you'd found MY BEST FRIEND!"

"Ginny please, calm down, I'm getting to it. I was just as shocked as you are now to find her here of all places and as soon as I confirmed that she was indeed Hermione Granger, I wanted to call you right away but then I stopped myself."

"No shit Sherlock" huffed the redhead earning her a glare from her boyfriend. "Sorry" she said "go on."

"Well I was about to call you when I saw her walk toward the bar and sit down at the booth closest to it. Then her friend Santi, the guy you saw pulling her away this morning, and his boyfriend sat down at the same booth. I overheard the introductions between her and Santi's boyfriend who was congratulating her on a great performance but then got up to go to the men's room. During that time, Santi asked her if she wished you, Harry or anyone from her old life could be there to see her perform and she said no."

***Flashback***

"_What do you mean no?" asked Santi._

"_well I mean yes and no at the same time" replied Hermione "Yes I would love for them to be able to see me perform so I could share the one thing I'm so passionate about with them but no because I know that the first thing out of their mouths won't be 'That was GREAT Mione!' but 'Why are you here Mione? Why did you leave us?' and even though it's been three years, I'm still not ready to face it all."_

***End Flashback***

"After hearing that, I realized that it was not my place to tell you where she was; she would eventually contact you or Potter when she was finally ready to do so. I know you're angry but try to see this from my perspective love, she didn't know I was there and I don't think she would have been happy to find out, after you and Potter arrived and bombarded her with questions that I had been the one who, without her consent, revealed her secret location" Said Blaise while sending his girlfriend a pleading look of forgiveness.

"You didn't tell me yet you showed her to Draco" she argued.

"I know babe but Draco's been in love with her since fourth year, you know that. And I didn't outright tell him that she was here, I just took him to dinner at the same place I'd seen her last. I know he's been pining away for her since even before she left London; I just wanted to give him a second chance at getting his dream girl."

"You could have still told me" she whispered.

"No Ginny, I couldn't have. We both know if I'd told you, you would have run to Potter and told him and the both of you would have run back here, tracked her down and bombarded her with questions, which is exactly what she DIDN'T want.

Ginny couldn't argue anymore because she knew Blaise was right. In fact, right now she was having an internal argument with herself about whether or not she should tell Harry that she knew where Hermione was.

"I know what you're thinking and no I don't think you should tell Potter…yet. You should talk to Hermione first and then if she gives you the okay, THEN you can tell Potter. But if you do it without her knowing I know she'll be mad and hurt that you didn't bother to consult her" said Blaise, seeming to have read his girlfriend's mind.

She simply nodded and Blaise smiled. "Now how about some lunch, there's this nice little Italian restaurant not even 5 minutes away from here called Campisis, feeling up to it? Or should I just order some room service?"

"I'm fine, let me just freshen up a bit and we can go out to lunch" she replied softly.

Blaise smiled as she walked toward the washroom, "well" he thought, "that went better than expected."

* * *

><p>Santi, Hermione and Draco arrived at her loft tired, not so much from the walk but because of the weight of their bags.<p>

As soon as Hermione opened the door to her loft, she, Draco and Santi proceeded to plop down onto her couch and loveseat, dropping their bags on the floor in the process.

"Man, who knew clothes and shoes could weight that much!' groaned Santi who was spread over the loveseat.

"Tell me about it" said Hermione and Draco in unison causing them to look at each other and chuckle.

After a few more minutes of resting, Hermione was the first to get up, "Alright, that's enough resting time, I'm starving. Do the two of you want me to make lunch or should we order in?"

Draco and Santi looked over at each other then back at Hermione, neither saying anything. Draco was the first to break the silence, "Well as much as I would like to see what you come up with for lunch, I'd love some pizza, what about you two?"

This time Hermione and Santi looked at each other," Pizza sounds good" said Hermione "How about Campisis? They're not too far from here and they deliver."

"Sure" said Santi.

"What kind should we get?" asked Hermione looking at Draco and Santi.

"I'm happy with any kind as long as it has mushrooms on it" said Draco.

"How about the 'All the way' pizza?" asked Santi, "It has sausage, salami, mushrooms and green peppers on it."

"Sounds good" said Hermione "is that all we should order? Either of you want a salad or anything else?"

"No I think I'll have enough with the pizza" said Draco.

"Same here" said Santi "Oh and don't order drinks since you have sodas in your fridge."

"Alright."

Hermione ordered their lunch and less than thirty minutes later their pizza was delivered. They devoured the pizza like it was the most delicious thing on earth.

Soon after finishing lunch, Santi said good bye to his best friend and Draco. He had to go back to his own place, put away all his purchases and get ready for work that night.

* * *

><p>Hermione and Draco sat at the dining table in comfortable silence until Draco said it was time for him to go too. He also had to put away his purchases and get ready for his "date" with Hermione later on that night.<p>

"So what time should I come over?" he asked "You did say it would be casual right? I don't want to show up in jeans and a t-shirt and end up at a fancy restaurant."

She laughed as she led him to the door, "Still around 7 and yes it is casual; jeans and a t-shirt will be fine for where I'm taking you."

"Great" he said walking out her door and into the hallways with Hermione following.

"Alright, well see you tonight." Hermione was turning around and was about to go back inside when-

"Hermione?" called Draco causing her to turn around.

"Y-" was all she was able to get out before a set of lips came crashing down on hers.

Draco Malfoy was KISSING HER! And what's more is that she started to kiss him back!

She put her arms around his neck and continued to kiss him until he pulled away, making her frown inwardly.

Draco just smiled. "See you tonight" he whispered to her before picking up his bags again, placed one last, soft kiss on her lips and walked away leaving a stunned Hermione standing outside her open door.

* * *

><p><strong>AH! What did you think! Did you like it? :D I hope you did! Please don't forget to review and send me any ideas if you have any!<strong>


	13. Dinner with Draco

**So here's chapter 13! Sorry I didn't update over the weekend but I was rather busy with planning my family's trip to visit my grandparents and I also came down with a severe case of Writer's block. Again this chapter seems messy to me but then again I always seem to be my own worst critic. I hope you enjoy it! if you want to see the items I describe that make up Hermione and Draco's outfits go to photobucket . com / thevoicefanfic(without the spaces of course)**

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><p>Ginny and Blaise had just gotten back from their outing; after lunch Blaise took Ginny to the arts district to distract her a bit from Hermione. He wasn't entirely sure it had worked but she did seem to enjoy visiting The Crow Collection of Asian Art Museum. She even bought herself a Japanese tea set in the museums gift shop afterwards.<p>

Not even a minute after setting down her bag and purchases on the couch did Draco come in with his hands full.

"Whoa, and they say I'M a shopaholic" teased Ginny.

"Very funny Ginny, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go put these down in my room before my arms fall off" he said as he walked toward his bedroom.

"Oh by the way, Blaise told me to tell you to go up to his room after you got here. He said he wants to talk to you about something."

"Alright, I'll go up to his room after I put everything away."

Five minutes later, Draco emerged from his bedroom and went upstairs to find Blaise.

"Hey Blaise, what's up?" asked Draco after opening Blaise's bedroom door.

"Hey, Drake I kinda want-no- NEED your help with something."

"Sure man, what is it?'

"Are you still going to dinner with Hermione tonight?"

Draco absentmindedly smiled at the mention of her; his mind immediately went to the kiss they shared not too long ago.

He quickly snapped out of it, not wanting his friend to notice and then interrogate him.

"Yea, she said it was going to be a much more casual thing since it's just going to be the two of us but overall we're still on for dinner. Why do you ask?"

Blaise sighed, "Um well I was kind of hoping that you could…maybe…possibly convince Hermione to come over sometime and talk to Ginny?"

To say this took Draco by surprise would be an understatement. He just stood there for a bit staring at his best friend.

"Um wow. I mean I could TRY but I won't promise you anything. We aren't very close (yet, he thought) I'm not really sure she'll respond well to me butting into her personal business."

"I know Drake but it would mean the world to me and Ginny if you could talk to her about this."

Draco sighed, "Okay, I'll mention it to her tonight but again, I'm not promising anything."

Blaise smiled widely, "Thanks Drake. I knew I could count on you."

"No problem, now if you'll excuse me I have to start getting ready for said dinner. I'll tell you all about it when I get back."

Draco walked out of the room and practically ran back to his room to shower and get ready. Throughout his process of getting dressed he smiled the whole time. He was FINALLY getting a chance with his dream girl.

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><p>Hermione and Santi were busy in her room trying on multiple outfits for her date; she'd finally agreed to call it a date after she told Santi about their hallway kiss.<p>

"Santi! I Have NOTHING to wear!" Hermione screamed. Santi just laughed.

"Mione, we spent THREE HOURS in Neiman Marcus shopping for you alone. You have PLENTY to wear, you're just nervous. Now calm down so we can find a suitable outfit for tonight."

Hermione just nodded.

"Now, where are you taking him exactly?"

"Well since it's a first date I didn't want to make it overly formal so I'm not taking him to The French Room. Instead I'm going to take him to the Hard Rock Café."

"Very nice, alright so that narrows down our choices; no dresses or pencil skirts. Are you walking or driving?"

"Walking, it's closer than The House of Blues and I kinda just wanted to walk around the west end for a bit after dinner"

"So we're ruling out those AMAZING Louboutin black suede boots you just bought, and any other overly high heeled shoe. How about some flats? What about a wedge heel?"

"I'm freaking out! You can pick out the whole outfit, I can't think straight."

Santi had a certain sparkle in his eye, he loved when Hermione let him pick out her outfits, there was so much more he could do with her clothes than he could with his own. He immediately threw himself into her closet and got to work on putting together the perfect date outfit.

Not even 10 minutes later, Santi emerged from Hermione's closet with, what he thought, was the perfect outfit. He laid it out on her bed and told her to put in on. In the meantime he would be getting something to drink from her fridge.

Five minutes later Hermione stepped out of her bedroom after putting on the outfit Santi had picked out for her.

She looked at the mirror closest to her, she gasped when she saw herself.

Santi had picked out a pair of True Religion dark wash skinny jeans that she had bought today, a Michael Kors cashmere tank, a white fleece zip moto Stella McCartney Jacket and finished it off with a pair of charcoal metallic Manolo Blahnik bejeweled wedge heels.

"You look FABULOUS Mione! Draco is going to die when he sees you" said Santi who had come out of Hermione's kitchen drinking a Dr Pepper.

"You really think so?"

"Oh honey I know so."

After reassuring her that she looked stunning for like the tenth time, Santi left her loft to go to work.

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><p>At exactly 7 o' clock, Hermione's doorbell rang. She opened the door to find a very handsome looking Draco. He opted for a casual look with grey wash distressed jeans, a white V-neck tee with an intricate black design, black Chuck Taylors and a black faux leather jacket.<p>

"Damn he looks good" thought Hermione.

"Oh my god she looks gorgeous" thought Draco.

Of course neither of them allowed themselves to voice their thoughts out loud because they were too embarrassed and thought the other would think it would be weird.

Together they walked out of Hermione's building and started walking, well more like Hermione leading and Draco just following since he had no idea where she was taking him.

"So…"he finally asked "where exactly will we be having dinner?"

Hermione giggled and blushed after she realized that she had not yet revealed their destination.

"I'm taking you to the hard rock café."

"Oh, will there be live music there as well?"

"Not exactly, there will be music playing but it won't be live. There will be music videos playing on small screens throughout the room."

"That's not exactly what comes to mind when I think of hard rock."

Hermione giggled again, "well the reason they call it that is because they have music memorabilia hanging all over the restaurant's wall, like one of Elvis Presley's actual suits, records autographed by bands and musicians and just other cool things that are valuable to musical history."

"Sounds like a fun place" he said smiling.

"It is" she said smiling back, "and the food there is pretty amazing too."

Draco finally decided to make some sort of move so he reached at intertwined his hand with hers. He expected her to instantly pull away and start screaming at him, breaking off their dinner and storm back to her loft. So imagine his surprise when she just smiled, squeezed his hand and continued to pull him along on their way to the restaurant.

"This is going to be a great night" he thought to himself as he continued walking hand in hand with her as they neared the Hard Rock Café.

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><p><strong>What did you think? yay? nay? don't forget to review! PS I changed the story back to the original title. I was going to do this whole thing to incorporate the song Damaged by Danity Kane but I just decided against it so I just changed the title to what I thought was the main thing that started the story, Hermione's voice. :)<strong>


	14. Ron

**Okay so this is the longest chapter I've written so far. I was trying to make up for not updating over the weekend. For those of you that wanted to know Ron and Hermione's story well here it is! I hope you like it!**

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><p>Harry had just gotten home from work. He was about to go upstairs when he heard someone call out his name from the kitchen. He waited a bit to see it they called out again, he wasn't sure if he'd heard right.<p>

"Harry!" called out the voice again. Harry headed to the kitchen.

"Luna?" he was surprised to find his girlfriend standing in the kitchen "What are you doing here love? I thought you were working late at The Quibbler today."

"I was but I got a call and decided that this was more important than exposing the origin of nargles."

"Wha-"

Harry couldn't even get out his question when the sliding door between the kitchen and backyard opened. From the outside stepped in someone who he thought he'd never see again or at least not for a much longer period of time. Standing opposite from him was his EX best friend, Ronald Weasley.

"What is HE doing here?" Harry hissed.

He had not seen the redhead since the Hermione blowup. He knew what Hermione had told him was not the whole story, naturally he assumed the worst and when Ron avoided him after he asked what happened he knew he was right in assuming that Hermione didn't tell him everything. Since then the two had lost touch with each other. They didn't even run into each other at the Burrow when Harry and Luna visited because after the family found out Ron had cheated on Hermione and that she'd broken off the engagement and left the country because of it, they pretty much disowned Ron so he was never around.

"Listen mate, I know we haven't been on the best terms lately-"

"NO SHIT! That's the biggest fucking understatement I've ever heard! You're the reason MY BEST FRIEND LEFT!" he yelled.

"What?" asked the redhead stupidly, "Hermione's gone?"

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Are you fucking serious! Has your head been so far up your arse that you didn't even realize that your ex fiancé left the country!"

"I-I…didn't know" he said, not looking Harry in the eye.

To say that Harry was furious was a major understatement. He was seeing red.

"Harry…love please calm down" asked Luna pleadingly.

Harry just huffed and sat down; if he continued standing he would end up lunging at the redhead and beat him senseless.

Luna gave Harry a butterbeer, offered one to Ron who politely declined and left the two ex-friends to talk alone while she took a shower.

He took a big drink before he finally asked, "Why are you here Ron?"

Ron just sat there staring at the floor, still not able to look Harry in the eye, before he said "I-I came to ask for your help."

"Help you with WHAT? Helping you maintain your whore?" Harry asked.

Ron winced at the venom in his words but didn't object, he knew he deserved it after what he had done.

"No, I've left Isabella" he said, "I-I came to you hoping that you could help me to get Hermione back."

Harry dropped the bottle of butterbeer in his hand and it shattered on the floor spilling the remaining contents in it. He had to be imaging things; Ron did not just ask for help with winning back his best friend WHOM HE'D CHEATED ON.

"ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY! WHY THE HELL WOULD I HELP YOU GET HERMIONE BACK! YOU'RE JUST GOING TO HURT HER AND PROBABLY FUCKING CHEAT ON HER WITH THE NEXT THING THAT WALKS ALONG WITH A SKIRT!" yelled a furious Harry who'd jumped out of his chair.

"I'M SORRY!" yelled back Ron, "I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT HER! I LOVE HER!"

"BULLSHIT RON! YOU DON'T HURT THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE LIKE YOU HURT HERMIONE!"

'I'm sorry" he whispered shrinking back into his chair "I'm so sorry."

Harry sighed and sat back down as well. "What happened anyways? I want the whole truth Ronald. I know you cheated on her, that's all she told me. But I KNOW there's more to it, there HAS to be more to it if it was enough for her to leave the country."

Ron sighed, he wasn't proud of what he'd done and hated having to tell Harry everything because he knew it would probably hate him more but he couldn't bear the guilt anymore.

"Hermione and I had been engaged for over two months already when I met Isabella" he began.

***Flashback***

_Ron was walking around Diagon Alley when he accidentally bumped into someone, knocking them down onto the floor._

"_I'm so sorr-"he began but then stopped when he saw who he'd knocked down. _

_She was the most beautiful witch he'd ever seen. She had luscious, long dirty blonde hair, mesmerizing green eyes and lips to die for._

"_Oh no, I'm the one who should be sorry" she said "I wasn't watching where I was going"_

"_Here let me help you up" Ron said extending his hand. "I'm Ron by the way."_

"_Nice to meet you Ron, my name is Isabella." She said, accepting his hand, allowing him to pull her back up._

_Ron held back the gasp he so desperately wanted to let out after he saw her body. She was about 5'9". She had a FANTASTIC figure, gorgeous enough to rival that of Miranda Kerr (his favorite supermodel), perky breasts that were easily DDs and flawless tan skin._

"_Pleasure Isabella, listen I'm terribly sorry for knocking you down. How about I make it up to you with a drink? Maybe dinner?" he asked hopefully._

_Isabella smiled, "That sounds lovely. Where shall we go?"_

"_I know this great Italian restaurant in muggle London."_

"_Great, I love Italian food."_

_Together the two apparated to an alley close to the restaurant, walked out not trying to draw attention to the fact they'd just come from an alley, went to the restaurant and had a lovely dinner._

_They were leaving the restaurant when Ron said, "Now about that drink, we COULD go to the leaky cauldron if you'd like OR I could take you to my place. I have this bottle of red wine I've been saving so I could share it with someone special."_

_She blushed at his flattery, "I'd love to" she said taking his hand in hers._

_Ron smiled and apparated them to his flat, "here we are" he said once they arrived._

"_wow." She said looking around his flat. It was very modern, very well decorated and to top it all off, had a view of muggle London that was to die for._

"_Please, make yourself at home. I'll go get the wine."_

_She simply nodded and headed over to the large window at the other end of the room. She stared out at muggle London for what seemed an eternity. She kept staring out until she was brought back to reality when a pair of arms were wrapped around her waist._

"_What are you thinking?" asked Ron as he nuzzled his face into her neck, kissing it._

"_I'm just looking out on this amazing view."_

"_I see something more amazing than that view." he said stepping away obviously checking her out._

"_That's the wine talking" she said._

"_Nope, it's all because of you, the wine glasses are on the table, untouched."_

_She looked over and he wasn't lying, there on the table were two wine glasses filled with red wine._

_She walked over to the table, away from Ron, picked up her glass and took a large drink. Ron soon joined her and also took a large drink._

_Not even 30 minutes later both were drunk off their asses, both had a very low tolerance for alcohol but not once did they put their glasses down, In fact they had already refilled their glasses TWICE._

_Ron, even though he was drunk, saw this as the perfect opportunity to make his move. He slowly moved over to Isabella who was once again by the window but this time struggling to stay up because of the alcohol._

_Next thing she knew they were making out against the window and they were groping each other's bodies._

"_God you're so gorgeous Isabella" Ron grunted out between kisses._

_One thing led to another, clothes came off and soon they were having sex on Ron's couch. They fell asleep after going at it again like 3 more times._

_The sun shone through the massive window and woke the lovers up, both with MASSIVE hangovers._

"_Morning gorgeous" whispered Ron to Isabella._

"_Morning" she replied, smiling and finally opening her eyes._

_After their first encounter, it became a regular thing. They always met at the same Italian restaurant every other day and always ended up at Ron's flat._

_Ron always found some excuse to tell Hermione when she wanted to meet up with him on the days he met Isabella._

_This went on for months, unnoticed by Hermione who was busy with her own work and figured that work was also the reason Ron was not available too often._

_Then one day, roughly seven months into Ron's affair, Hermione excitedly finished her work as soon as she could and rushed over to Ron's flat. She could hardly wait to see him and tell him her big news. She knew Ron had told her he'd be busy but she just couldn't hold it in anymore, she figured she'd just go to his flat and wait for him until he got there._

_When she got to his flat, it was locked but luckily Hermione had a spare key so she just let herself in. She was shocked when she walked in. There were clothes thrown all over the living room and not just a man's clothes, there was woman's lingerie thrown around as well._

_She then heard what sounded like grunting ad moaning coming from Ron's bedroom. She walked slowly toward his bedroom making as little noise as possible._

_She opened the bedroom door and had to hold in the gasp she so desperately wanted to let out. There was Ron, her FIANCE, fucking some bimbo on his bed._

"_Oh my god Ron!" yelled the whore that was under him._

_She couldn't stand this any longer, "RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY!"_

_Ron jumped and fell off the bed while Isabella just froze and stared at the door._

"_Who the fuck is she Ron?" asked Isabella._

"_I'M HIS FUCKING FIANCE! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!" yelled a furious Hermione._

"_Hermione, love, this isn't what it looks like."_

"_Don't pull that shit on me! I saw you fucking that whore" she yelled pointing at Isabella who decided that it was in her best interest to keep her mouth shut._

"_And to think I came here to share what I thought was happy news" she said with angry tears in her eyes._

"_What…what do you mean?" stammered Ron._

"_I'M 2 MONTHS PREGNANT!"_

_Ron's jaw dropped, "You mean I'm going to be a father!" he asked excitedly._

"_NO! AS IF I'D EVER LET YOU NEAR ME OR MY CHILD AFTER THIS SHIT!" She then turned and started to storm out of the flat._

"_Hermione! WAIT!" yelled Ron, pulling on some pants and running after her._

_He caught up to her in the hallway just before she reached the stairs; he caught her by the arm and started to pull her back._

"_Hermione you can't do this, I have a right to see my child."_

"_WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT SHIT LIKE THAT BEFORE YOU STARTED FUCKING AROUND WITH THAT WHORE! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING HER BEHIND MY BACK! I BET YOU WERE WITH HER EVERY TIME YOU SAID YOU WERE "TOO BUSY" TO SEE ME!"_

"_love please calm down, we can get past this."_

"_NO! I'll be DAMNED before I get back together with you!" she took off her ring and threw it at him "TAKE YOUR STUPID RING BACK! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" she yelled struggling to get out of his grasp._

"_FINE! GO! ISABELLA IS A BETTER LAY THAN YOU ANYWAYS! AT LEAST SHE LOVES ME MORE THAN YOU! ALL YOU FUCKING CARE ABOUT YOU IS WORK!" he said finally letting go of a struggling Hermione causing her to stumble back and fall down the stairs._

"_Hermione!" Ron yelled as he saw her limp body at the bottom of the stairs. He ran down to get her, she was unconscious so he apparated them to St Mungos's._

_She was forced to stay the night and Ron stayed with her. She was alright, no broken bones but the fall caused her to miscarry. _

_She woke up the next morning and found Ron sitting on a chair next to her bed. "Wha- What happened?"_

_Ron looked guilty but answered, "you fell down the stairs."_

_Everything from the previous night came back to Hermione, "What about my baby!"_

_Ron looked at the floor, not being able to look her in the eye,"…the fall…caused you to…miscarry."_

_Hermione felt her heart break; she started seeing red._

"_THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU KILLED MY BABY!"_

"_Hermione I didn't mean for this-"_

"_DON'T! GET OUT OF HERE! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"_

"_Mione…"_

"_LEAVE!"_

_Ron knew he couldn't convince her to let him stay so he left. He didn't know that would be the last time he saw her._

***End Flashback***

"I tried to visit her later that day but the healer told me that she'd been let out already. I didn't go to her flat, I figured I'd let her cool off a bit before I tried contacting her again. A week later I tried to visit her but her flat was empty, I just assumed she moved to another flat."

Harry wasn't sure what he was feeling exactly, he felt sad for his best friend who was hurt so badly and such immense fury at the ginger sitting in front of him.

"Leave." He growled.

"Harry…please." Pleaded Ron, "I know what I did was wrong, but…I love Hermione."

"BULLSHIT RON! LEAVE!"

"PLEASE! I NEED TO FIND HER AND MAKE THINGS RIGHT"

"AND YOU BARELY CAME TO THIS REALIZATION, AFTER FOUR FUCKING YEARS!"

Harry was fed up with Ron. How dare he come to him, tell him how he fucked over his best friend and STILL expect Harry to help him.

"Ron seriously, this is the last time I'm going to tell you, LEAVE NOW or I won't be held responsible for my actions if you don't."

Ron sighed in defeat, he knew it was a long shot coming to Harry but he still had to try. He slowly got up and walked toward the front door.

"I really am sorry" he said, not that Harry would hear him, he was still sitting in the kitchen trying to calm down.

Ron went outside, closed the door and left 12 Grimmauld Place.

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><p><strong>What did you all think! did you like it :D I hope so! Please review! Oh and fyi when I described Isabella, for some reason I imagined Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, of course you might imagine her differently. (plus I think Rosie has blue eyes...I THINK.) :P<strong>


	15. I think you're right

**Here's chapter 15! after the Ron chapter I started getting more ideas so I just started typing before I got writer's block again. Enjoy!**

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><p>Draco was amazed by the Hard Rock Café. It was very well decorated, the bar looked amazing and he had to admit all the memorabilia on the wall was pretty awesome.<p>

"This place is awesome!"

Hermione laughed, "I'm glad you like it."

The hostess led them to their table and a waiter shortly greeted them and asked what they wanted to drink; Hermione ordered a Crushed Velvet and Draco just ordered a soft drink.

When their drinks arrived they ordered their meal and began talking about everything (with a few exceptions) until their food arrived.

Draco was having a great time with Hermione until he remembered a promise he'd made to his best friend. He didn't want to ruin their evening by bringing up something that he thought was a sensitive topic for her but Malfoys were men of their word so he went out on a limb and began talking as they ate.

"Hermione…"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry…I know this is NONE of my business but…"

"What are you going on about Draco?" she asked while taking a sip of her drink

He sighed, "I'm just gonna go out and say it; Blaise asked me to try and convince you to talk to Ginny."

Hermione almost choked on her drink.

"You have every right to tell me that it's none of my business but I promised Blaise that I would at least TRY and I know Ginny REALLY misses you."

Hermione just stared at Draco for a bit. "I think you're right."

"Wait what? Did you just say I was right?"

She sighed, "Yea. After our run in at breakfast, Santi and I were talking and he more or less convinced me that it's time I stopped running from everything."

"Wow, I have to admit I'm a little disappointed Granger, I expected more of a fight from you" he said flashing her with his signature Malfoy smirk.

She smiled, she wouldn't admit it to him but oh how she missed that smirk and there was a certain something in his voice when he called her 'Granger' and it wasn't the venom she was used to hearing when she was at Hogwarts.

"Well I would have if you'd mentioned it right after breakfast but like I said Santi convinced me otherwise."

"Alright so shall I set up a meeting at our hotel room?"

"No."

"No? I thought you wanted to do this."

"I do but…I just..." she paused "I think it's better if we meet in a more RELAXED environment. I feel like if we met in your hotel room the tension will just be through the roof. You and Blaise bring her to The House of Blues tomorrow night, don't tell her I'll be performing and I'll ask Santi to take you all backstage to my dressing room so we can all talk."

This sort of threw Draco back a bit, "All of us? And I thought you were going to cancel tomorrow's performance"

"I thought about canceling it but being up on that stage is actually quite relaxing to me. Well I would like to talk to Ginny first but afterwards I'd like to talk to the both of you as well. I've been keeping so many secrets from everyone and I think the more people I finally confide in, the better I'll feel; if that makes any sense to you at all."

"Yea of course, like the more you expose and the more people you expose things to the more that rock will be lifted off your shoulder."

"Exactly!" She was glad that someone, aside from Santi of course, understood her.

They finished their dinner randomly chatting about little things in between bites, had a drink at the bar, paid the bill (Draco insisted that HE pay the bill and after some arguing Hermione relented), and left the restaurant.

"Do you want me to drop you off?" asked Draco.

"What? No! The night is still young" she said grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the West end.

Draco just laughed and allowed himself to be pulled along.

They were walking hand in hand around the West End when Draco spotted a horse and carriage going past them.

"Is that allowed here?"

She laughed, "Yes this is allowed, they're here pretty much every night. You pay the coachman and they take you around the West End."

"Sounds fun" he said, this time HE pulled HER along and didn't stop until they were in front of an empty carriage.

"How much?" Draco asked the coachman.

"35 dollars for half an hour."

"Perfect" he said. He got out his wallet handed the man the 35 dollars and got into the carriage.

"You coming?" he asked Hermione who was standing on the sidewalk staring at Draco not really believing that he'd just done that.

"Earth to Hermione, come in Hermione" he said waving his hand in front of her.

"Huh?' she said coming out of her trance.

"Come on Hermione! It's not every day you get to ride in a horse drawn carriage with THE Draco Malfoy" he teased.

"When you put it like that how could I possibly pass up this opportunity" she teased back taking his hand and allowed him to help her into the carriage.

They had a lovely carriage ride, spent mostly in silence but it was a very comfortable silence.

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><p>The carriage then returned to the original spot and the two got off. Hermione thought it was time they each headed back to their own homes, or temporary lodgings in Draco's case. He insisted on walking her home and for once she made no objections; to that or to him grabbing her hand and intertwining their fingers.<p>

As they neared her building they passed a young couple, maybe a few years younger than Draco and Hermione, who were also walking hand in hand but the difference was that the woman had a very noticeable baby bump. The couple let go of each other's hands and the man walked in front her, turned toward her, put his hands on her protruding stomach and kissed her tenderly.

Hermione felt her eyes water at the sight; that could have been her and Ron once upon a time.

Draco noticed immediately and started to worry.

"Hermione are you alright?"

Hermione couldn't speak; she knew if she even tried she would just break down in sobs. She just shook her head in reply.

That was all Draco needed to know, thank fully they were down the street of her building so he ran toward the building pulling Hermione with him, took her keys from her shaking hands knowing that she would take forever to unlock the door in her state, opened the door took her inside and just hugged her, causing her to finally let out the sobs she'd been holding in. He didn't know what was wrong but he did know that he would be there for her whenever she needed him.

Half an hour, one soaked t shirt and a face covered in mascara later, Hermione calmed down and went to her bathroom to clean herself up.

She walked back out to her living room and found Draco sitting on the couch watching tv.

"Hey" she whispered, sitting down beside him.

"Hey" he whispered back, "you feeling better?"

"Yea, listen I'm sorry about that, I don't know what came over me"

"Hermione, don't apologize. You did nothing wrong. I know we 've never really had a 'good' relationship but I'm here if you need to talk."

Hermione heard and felt the sincerity in his voice and knew that she could trust him.

She started to tear up again and Draco immediately reached out his arms to comfort her, she fell straight into his arms and began crying again. A few more minutes of crying and Hermione finally calmed down again.

"Sorry" she said again.

"Hey, what did I say about apologizing" said Draco reaching out and wiping one last tear from her cheek.

Hermione smiled at the small, but large in her eyes, gesture.

She sighed and slowly began telling her story of love and betrayal.

Draco kept a straight face throughout the whole story but inside he was raging.

How dare that weasel do that to his Hermione? _When did he start thinking of her as HIS?_ All he thought about when she told him about the fateful night was, "_I swear if the weasel EVER shows his face around here or even TRIES to contact MY Hermione (there that sudden possessiveness again) I'll make sure he regrets it for the rest of his life."_

It was getting late and he knew Hermione was getting tired but he didn't want to leave her by herself. Apparently, she was thinking the same thing, when Draco was about to say it was time for him to leave, Hermione blurted out, "I know this may sound weird but could you stay the night…with me?"

Draco was shocked, to say the least and replied "are you sure? I mean I won't try anything but…are you sure?"

She gave him a weak smile, "Yes I'm sure, and I appreciate that you wouldn't take advantage of my vulnerable state."

"No problem" said Draco "and I'd be happy to, I'll just text Blaise to tell him that I'll be here so he won't freak out if I'm not there in the morning."

"Thank you Draco, I really don't want to be alone tonight." She said getting up to go change in her bedroom.

While she was changing, Draco sent Blaise a text explaining the situation as best he could without revealing too much and afterwards transfigured his current clothes into a set of pajamas.

After a few minutes he walked to her bedroom thinking it was enough time for her to change. He knocked on the door and didn't open it until he heard "come in" from the other side.

Hermione was pulling back the covers of her king sized bed dressed in white and navy plaid flannel pajamas; even all covered up she looked gorgeous.

"You ready for bed?" she asked warmly

"Absolutely, I'm ready to sleep until next week." He said as he climbed onto the bed.

"Tell me about it" she said following Draco's lead and climbing in.

She scooted toward the center of the bed and Draco instinctively did the same.

She put her hands softly on his chest, looked him in the eyes and kissed him softly.

"Thank you for everything" she said.

He just smiled draped an arm over her waist, pulled her closer and kissed her forehead in response.

"Goodnight Hermione" he whispered.

"Goodnight Draco" she said allowing sleep to take her over.

The pair fell into a blissful slumber, forgetting all their worries and just focusing on the happiness and comfort of being in each other's arms.

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><p><strong>So what did you think? I'm neutral on this chapter for once ha, there are some things I like and some I don't but I still think it's an okay chapter. Review please!<strong>


	16. URGENT MESSAGE NOT A NEW CHAPTER

**So like I mentioned in a previous chapter's author note, my parents and I will be going on a trip to visit my grandparents. I'm thinking we will spend about a week with them. I'll probably be writing for most of the trip but I probably won't be able to update at all while I'm there (no internet!) D: We're leaving tonight probably around midnight or one in the morning (central US time). I'm not promising anything but I'm REALLY going to try and write as much as I can and upload it before then. I'm working on ch 16 right now and I'm hoping to finish it quickly and start on ch 17, hopefully I'll be able to pull it off. Sorry guys but I haven't seen my grandparents in like 2 years so I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to see them just so I can write fanfiction. :/**

**-Suri29**


	17. Because of you

**Okay I know I said I'd try to upload two chapters and I DID TRY but today was just so hectic, going last minute xmas shopping, last minute packing and then a whole bunch of family came over with crap they wanted us to take for their families who also live in the same town as my grandparents. A big shout out and thank you to hottopicgirl and CrunchyMunchers! Thanks for understanding guys but I hope to make it up to you all by uploading more than one chapter the moment I get back or get to an internet connection (whichever comes first) :D I love you all! Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah / whatever it is you celebrate and if your don't celebrate anything well then just Happy Day! :P**

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><p>When Hermione woke up the next morning she was a bit startled to find her body intertwined with Draco's body. Then last night's memories: the dinner, carriage ride, and her breakdown after seeing the pregnant woman and her boyfriend. Aside from that last bit, she was very happy with their "date".<p>

She was started to get up but was immediately stopped when Draco pulled her closer to him with his arm.

"Don't go, it's too early" he mumbled.

She laughed. "It's eight in the morning Draco."

"That's too early." Just then, Draco's stomach growled LOUDLY.

"Your stomach seems to think otherwise." She said laughing.

Draco finally opened his eyes and blushed.

"Now come on, get up so I can make us some breakfast"

Draco didn't argue and did as he was told because he really was hungry.

The two were enjoying a lovely breakfast of Chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit and mimosas when the doorbell rang.

Hermione immediately knew it was Santi; he probably wanted all the details from her date with Draco. She was about to get up and answer the door when she heard her door open and in walked her best friend.

"Santi! How many times have I told you NOT to do that?"

Santi was about to comeback with something amazingly witty when he stopped dead in his tracks; was he seeing things? There he was, THE Draco Malfoy, in silk pajamas, eating breakfast with Hermione who was also in her pajamas.

"WHOA. Damn Mione! Someone didn't waste any time" he said wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Shut up Santi, nothing happened" she retorted, face crimson.

Draco had to keep himself from laughing at Santi's not so subtle innuendo and especially Hermione's reaction to it.

Hermione and Santi's playful and teasing banter went on for a few more minutes before Hermione decided that the only thing that would shut him up would be coffee and food so she invited him to join them with breakfast.

"FINALLY! I thought you'd never ask" said Santi.

Hermione and Draco laughed. Santi joined the duo and had they had a delicious breakfast free of drama, unlike yesterday.

Half an hour later Santi left to clean up his apartment and Draco also bid Hermione farewell; he knew Blaise would want to know about his date but more importantly, if Hermione had agreed to speak to Ginny.

"Don't forget to tell Blaise the plan" said Hermione as she walked Draco, who had by now transfigured his clothes back to normal, to her front door.

"Don't worry Hermione I won't forget; Blaise and I will take Ginny to The House of Blues just like you planned. And we already filled in Santi so he knows what to do."

Draco nodded his head, everyone would know their part and their plan would work perfectly. He was about to turn and walk away when Hermione grabbed his arm, pulled him back and kissed him.

Draco was shocked but pleasantly so; he grabbed her waist, pulled her closer and started to deepen the kiss.

Just as he started to REALLY enjoy himself Hermione pulled away with a wicked smile on her face.

"See you later Draco" she winked at him, walked back inside and closed the door.

Draco sighed and then chuckled to himself; Hermione Granger would be the death of him.

* * *

><p>It was around eight at night when Draco, Blaise and Ginny walked into The House of Blues. After he got back to his hotel suite, the first thing Draco did was run up to Blaise's room and fill him in on the plan. He also eventually told him about his date but excluded Hermione's breakdown and her story about Ron.<p>

"Wow this place is amazing" exclaimed Ginny; apparently she'd already forgotten her conversation with Blaise where he mentioned that Hermione was a performer there.

The trio sat down, ordered drinks and started talking.

"So, what's so special about this place?" asked Ginny "I don't get why you both insisted on bringing me here."

"You'll see" answered Blaise and Draco in unison.

A few seconds later the lights dimmed, a soft spotlight was cast on the stage in the room and the curtain was raised and Ginny's jaw dropped the same way Blaise's and Draco's did their first time seeing Hermione on that stage.

Hermione didn't need to look around at the audience to know that Ginny was there; she could feel her aura.

The band slowly began playing and Hermione started singing.

_If anyone asks,  
>I'll tell them we both just moved on<br>When people all stare  
>I'll pretend that I don't hear them talk<br>Whenever I see you,  
>I'll swallow my pride<br>and bite my tongue  
>Pretend I'm okay with it all<br>Act like there's nothing wrong_

_Is it over yet?_  
><em>Can I open my eyes?<em>  
><em>Is this as hard as it gets?<em>  
><em>Is this what it feels like to really cry?<em>  
><em>Cry<em>

_If anyone asks,_  
><em>I'll tell them we just grew apart<em>  
><em>Yeah what do I care<em>  
><em>If they believe me or not<em>  
><em>Whenever I feel<em>  
><em>Your memory is breaking my heart<em>  
><em>I'll pretend I'm okay with it all<em>  
><em>Act like there's nothing wrong<em>

_Is it over yet?_  
><em>Can I open my eyes?<em>  
><em>Is this as hard as it gets?<em>  
><em>Is this what it feels like to really cry?<em>  
><em>Cry<em>

_I'm talking in circles_  
><em>I'm lying, they know it<em>  
><em>Why won't this just all go away<em>

_Is it over yet?_  
><em>Can I open my eyes?<em>  
><em>Is this as hard as it gets?<em>  
><em>Is this what it feels like to really cry?<em>

_Cry  
>Cry<em>

Everyone in the restaurant was moved by her song and the "theatrical" pain in her voice. Draco and Santi, who was standing at the bar not too far from them, instinctively looked at each other; aside from Hermione, they were the only two people in the entire room who knew the pain was real. The story in the song was true for her; she did just tell people that they grew apart.

Tonight she would only sing one more song, half because she was tired and half was because she really just wanted to finish so she and Ginny could talk.

Now it was time for her last song, like always the band started to play, Hermione let the music take over her and began to sing.

_I will not make the same mistakes that you did  
>I will not let myself<br>Cause my heart so much misery  
>I will not break the way you did,<br>You fell so hard  
>I've learned the hard way<br>To never let it get that far_

_Because of you_  
><em>I never stray too far from the sidewalk<em>  
><em>Because of you<em>  
><em>I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt<em>  
><em>Because of you<em>  
><em>I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me<em>  
><em>Because of you<em>  
><em>I am afraid<em>

_I lose my way_  
><em>And it's not too long before you point it out<em>  
><em>I cannot cry<em>  
><em>Because I know that's weakness in your eyes<em>  
><em>I'm forced to fake<em>  
><em>A smile, a laugh every day of my life<em>  
><em>My heart can't possibly break<em>  
><em>When it wasn't even whole to start with<em>

_Because of you_  
><em>I never stray too far from the sidewalk<em>  
><em>Because of you<em>  
><em>I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt<em>  
><em>Because of you<em>  
><em>I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me<em>  
><em>Because of you<em>  
><em>I am afraid<em>

_I watched you die_  
><em>I heard you cry every night in your sleep<em>  
><em>I was so young<em>  
><em>You should have known better than to lean on me<em>  
><em>You never thought of anyone else<em>  
><em>You just saw your pain<em>  
><em>And now I cry in the middle of the night<em>  
><em>For the same damn thing<em>

_Because of you_  
><em>I never stray too far from the sidewalk<em>  
><em>Because of you<em>  
><em>I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt<em>  
><em>Because of you<em>  
><em>I try my hardest just to forget everything<em>  
><em>Because of you<em>  
><em>I don't know how to let anyone else in<em>  
><em>Because of you<em>  
><em>I'm ashamed of my life because it's empty<em>  
><em>Because of you<em>  
><em>I am afraid<em>

_Because of you_  
><em>Because of you<em>

The room erupted with applause; Hermione smiled and took a bow. This time she did look around for Ginny and found her giving her a standing ovation while tears ran down her eyes.

Hermione was glad that she'd finally been able to share this with Ginny, if only Harry could see her as well.

Hermione sighed and was about to walk to her dressing room but she remembered her plan; before turning and leaving, she looked directly at Santi and gave him a short nod, the signal to set the plan in motion.

As she saw Santi move towards Blaise and Draco's table she finally turned and went to her dressing room to prepare for a confrontation four years in the making.

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><p><strong>I hope you all liked it. Not my best chapter but I guess this is what happens when you're awake for more than 24 straight hours (don't ask...long story). I honestly didn't think I would be able to make my midnight deadline but I was wrong :) (well in my time zone I'm not lol) please review! I hope you all have very happy holidays and I will see you all in (hopefully) a week. If not then I'll see you all NEXT YEAR!<strong>


	18. I'M BACK! Not a new chapter

**HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, Kwanza or whatever it is that you celebrated. So I'm finally back home :D and you will be happy to know that while on vacation I was able to write five new chapters(and I'm already working on Chapter 22)! Should I upload them all at once or should I upload then one by one and see how you guys react to each one?**


	19. The Truth

**HI GUYS! So I'm back :) Here's the first of the next five chapters I wrote while at my grandparents' house. I hope you like it! PS: hottopicgirl- the first song in the last chapter was "cry" by Kelly Clarkson and Because of you was also Kelly's version.**

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><p>Hermione walked into her dressing room and sat down in front of her vanity. She took several deep breaths to try and calm herself down, it didn't really work. She thought over her plan again for like the 20th time that night. Santi would walk over and talk to Blaise and Draco; hopefully Ginny would recognize him from their run in at La Madeleine, and eventually butt into the guys' conversation and demand to see Hermione. Santi would try to argue with her at first (and fail of course; no one could win an argument with Ginevra Molly Weasley) and end up telling her that he'd check if Hermione would mind (she wouldn't of course), go back to tell the trio to follow him and he'd lead them to Hermione's dressing room and leave the rest of it up to her.<p>

She had tried earlier that day, after Draco left, to build what she thought was a decent argument for why she left the way she did and never tried to contact her or Harry but her efforts were futile. Well not so much for her reason for leaving, if she thought that wasn't a good enough reason then Santi was right and she was no real friend; but she knew Ginny would tell her that she should have contacted her or at least Harry to let them know she was safe. Hermione knew she was at fault for not contacting her two best friends but it had been too painful to relieve what had happened to her so soon after she left and she knew that's exactly what she would have had to do if she contacted them as soon as she got to Dallas; as the time went on she got used to it just being her and Santi. She never forgot Ginny or Harry and certainly never stopped missing them but if she contacted them there would be so many questions that she didn't want to answer. Granted even four years later she still didn't want to answer but she was more willing to push aside her own feelings and consider her friend's.

* * *

><p>Just then there was a knock at her door. She froze for a few seconds but she regained her composure, got up and opened the door; standing outside was Santi, Draco, Blaise and Ginny.<p>

"Come in" she said unfazed

The four of them went inside Hermione's dressing room; Blaise and Draco sat down on a white couch and Ginny sat down on a white loveseat close to Hermione's vanity. Hermione stood at the front of the room and Santi stood with her.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" Santi whispered to Hermione.

"No thank you Santi, I think it's better if I do this alone." She replied to her friend and offered him a soft smile.

Santi took her hand, squeezed it, gave her a reassuring smile and walked out of her dressing room.

Hermione took a deep breath and turned to face the people of her past.

"Draco, you already know everything and Blaise you don't but I would really appreciate it if you would follow Draco into the hallway and leave Ginny and me alone. I promise I will fill you in as well Blaise; actually, Draco if you don't mind, could you fill him in while I talk to Ginny? I don't really feel like telling the whole thing twice in one day."

Both Draco and Blaise nodded and got up to leave the room, leaving Ginny and Hermione alone.

"Gin-"

Hermione couldn't even get out her friend's name when she was tackled by the redhead and pulled into a bear hug.

As soon as Hermione put her arms around her best friend the two started bawling; four years of repressed feelings of longing finally let out.

After about five minutes the two friends pulled apart and started laughing at seeing each other's tear stained faced covered in running mascara.

Ginny was the first to speak, "I've missed you so much Mione!"

"I've missed you too Gin!' replied Hermione while pulling her friend into another hug.

After another couple of minutes of hugging the two pulled apart again, Hermione led them to the white couch previously occupied by Blaise and Draco.

"Gin I know you have a million questions running through your mind but please let me just tell you my story first; hopefully that will clear most of them up."

Ginny just nodded; Hermione took a deep breath and began to tell her story for the second time that week.

Ten minutes later Hermione finished and Ginny just sat there frowning with angry tears running down her face.

"And that's pretty much everything" said Hermione.

Ginny stood up and looked like she was about to burst into flames from anger.

"WHAT THE FUCK! HOW COULD THAT ASSHOLE DO THAT TO YOU!"

"Ginny calm down" Hermione stood up and gave her friend a pleading look.

"Hermione how can you ask me to calm down after everything you told me! How can YOU be so calm?"

Hermione just shrugged "I guess time does heal all wounds, I mean I don't know what I would do if I ever saw Ronald again but I've come to terms with what happened to me and I know that not even all the anger and sorrow in the world will change what happened."

"BUT WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME OR HARRY? WE WOULD HAVE HELPED YOU!"

Hermione signed," Ginny please what would YOU have done in my place? Every time I walked outside and saw a couple I was reminded of what Ron did and you can't even imagine the hell I went through whenever I saw a couple with a baby or a pregnant woman. I just couldn't stay in London and be able to live comfortably; and if I told you or Harry you would have tried to convince me to stay."

Ginny didn't argue with her about that; if she had been in that situation she would have left the country as well and Hermione was right, she and Harry would have done everything in their power to make her stay in London.

She just walked over to her friend and hugged her, "I'm so sorry that happened to you"

Hermione hugged her back "Thank you Ginny but really, after four years, I'm okay"

There was a knock at the door; Hermione let go of Ginny and walked over to open it, in walked Draco and Blaise.

Blaise walked over to Hermione and gave her a hug, "Hermione I'm so sorry; I can't begin to imagine what that must have been like for you"

Hermione hugged him back and smiled, "Thank you Blaise but like I told Ginny, I've come to terms with what happened to me so there is no need to feel sorry."

Blaise just gave her a small smile and the two joined Draco and Ginny on the white couch.

"Well with that aside Hermione, how come you never to me you could sing, especially like THAT! You were AMAZING" exclaimed Ginny smiling widely.

Hermione blushed at her friend's compliment "thanks Gin, you have no idea how glad I am that you were able to see me perform. Ron always hated when I sang, he said I had a horrible singing voice so I never got the courage to sing in front of you or Harry."

Ginny frowned at the mention of her asshole of a brother, he obviously didn't know what he had if he threw it all away for some whore who fucked him on the first date.

"Well Ron is a complete idiot" said Ginny.

Hermione laughed, it was nice to know that Ginny was a true friend and understood why she left.

"Okay now that I've told you all everything how about we all go back to my place for a drink?" asked Hermione.

"Sounds great" replied Ginny.

The four of them walked out of Hermione's dressing room and walked toward the main room. Hermione walked toward the bar and asked Jack the bartender if he'd seen Santi, she'd wanted to invite him as well, but apparently Devin came and took him back to his place about 5 minutes ago. She was a bit disappointed that he would not be able to join them but she knew he hadn't spent much time with Devin so she knew he'd have a good night.

She said goodnight to Jack and walked back to Draco, Blaise and Ginny. The four left the venue, Blaise and Ginny hand in hand, Draco and Hermione hand in hand as well and walked toward Hermione's loft.

* * *

><p><strong>So there it was! what did you think? I think I'm going to upload them one by one but knowing me I'll probably just end up uploading all of the chapters by the end of today x) <strong>


	20. Can I tell Harry?

**Here's the second of the five chapters, I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

><p>The four friends arrived at Hermione's loft; Blaise and Ginny were in awe of the size and the décor. Draco having already been there twice before and spent the night once, was just happy to be there again. There was a certain something about Hermione's loft that radiated warmth, maybe it was Hermione herself.<p>

"Please, make yourselves at home" said Hermione as she headed toward her bar set near her window.

"I love your loft" said Ginny

"Thanks Ginny, so what would you and the guys like to drink?"

"I'd love a cosmopolitan" said Ginny

"Whiskey for me" said Blaise

"I'll have scotch" replied Draco

"Alright two cosmos, a whiskey and scotch coming up" said Hermione

A few minutes later Hermione walked over to her friends with their drinks on a silver plate

"Here you go guys", she said setting the drinks down.

"Thanks" replied her three friends

The four of them talked for a while about any and everything they could think of. One cosmopolitan later, Ginny finally got enough courage to ask the question she'd been itching to ask all night.

"Hermione…there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about"

"What is it Ginny?"

"Well…now that everything is out in the open…can I tell Harry where you are?"

Hermione sat there staring at Ginny for a while, thinking about her question. It had crossed her mind to contact Harry after she found out Ginny was there but she decided against it, at least until she told Ginny the whole story.

She finally sighed and replied, "Yes Gin, you can go ahead and tell Harry where I am, but PLEASE be as discrete as possible and ONLY tell Harry, I don't want the whole wizarding world to know where I am and then be at the center of a media blitz."

Ginny smiled widely, "I promise I will be as discrete as possible and make sure that ONLY harry finds out where you are."

She walked over to her best friend and pulled her up into a hug, "He's going to be SO HAPPY to know where you are; he's missed just as much as I have."

"I'm sure he has" replied Hermione smiling "I've missed him too. How is he? You're obviously with Blaise now but what about Harry? Has he found anyone special?"

Ginny then went on to explain how Harry and Luna got together and how she and Blaise got together in Italy one summer when she was training with the Holyhead Harpies.

"God, I've missed so much! You and Blaise, Harry and Luna; what's next Pansy and Neville?"

Blaise and Draco held back a chuckle but Ginny couldn't do the same and burst out laughing, "Actually Mione…Pansy and Neville are married; Pansy's even pregnant, she's due next January."

Hermione's jaw dropped, she really had missed A LOT. Who would have thought that the Slytherin Princess would end up with the once cowardly Gryffindor? The world she'd left behind had certainly changed considerably in her absence.

Hermione hesitated before asking her question, she was curious but she wasn't sure she'd like the answer, "Ginny…"

"What's up Mione?"

"Umm…How's Ron?"

Ginny froze; she had not expected that particular question, or any question concerning her brother.

"Is he still with _HER?"_

Ginny knew exactly who she was referring to; she made a sour face at the memory of the home wrecking whore.

"Honestly Mione, I wouldn't know what to tell you, I haven't seen or heard from Ronald in ages. You know he even had the GALL to take that slut to the burrow? Harry visited two weeks after you left and had just finished telling everyone that you had left the country after you broke off the engagement because Ron had cheated on you when he arrived with a shit eating grin on his face and started showing off that bitch like she was a fucking trophy.

***Flashback***

_Ron walked into the Burrow hand in hand with Isabella; it had been two weeks since Hermione had broken off their engagement. It didn't take him very long to get over her, or the loss of his child, especially since he had Isabella by his side._

"_Hey everyone!" he said happily. Good, everyone was there, that way they could all meet his GORGEOUS girlfriend and he could tell them about his break up with Hermione (of course he would bend the story in HIS favor)._

_He barely noticed that no one had returned his greeting; in fact everyone was GLARING at him, but why? He then noticed a particularly deadly glare coming from the crowd. He looked up and his eyes met a pair of Green orbs; but why was Harry, his best friend, glaring at him with such hate?_

"_What's wrong? What's with the faces?"_

_Molly Weasley couldn't contain in her anger any longer, "RONALD WEASLEY! YOU HAVE SOME NERVE BRINGING THAT…THAT…SLUT INTO THIS HOUSEHOLD!"_

_Isabella's face grew crimson but she didn't say anything; she was a guest at the house and upon hearing the anger in her voice, she knew it would be stupid to try and argue with Molly Weasley._

_Ron was drawn back at his mother's anger, "m-mom what are you talking about?" Could Hermione have told them what happened between them?_

"_DON'T PLAY INNOCENT WITH ME! I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU CHEATING ON HERMIONE WITH THAT SLUT!"_

_Ron just stood there with his jaw on the floor, "mom please, I can explain…"_

_This time it was Harry that could not control his anger, "DON'T YOU DARE TRY AND EXPLAIN; YOU'LL PROBABLY JUST TRY AND TWIST THINGS IN YOUR FAVOR! I've already told them everything I know so you're just wasting your time."_

"_B-B-But" stammered Ron._

"_Just stop Ron, your excuses mean nothing to us, I suggest you…BOTH of you, leave" said Harry as he eyed his former best friend and the home wrecker with distain._

_Ron opened his mouth to say something when Molly Weasley interrupted, "and don't you even THINK about setting foot in this house again, not as long as you're still with THAT SLUT" she said shooting daggers with her eyes at Isabella who shrank behind Ron._

_Ron couldn't believe what he was hearing, he searched the crowd for a sympathetic face that would help him try and convince his mother to take back what she'd said, he found none._

_His eyes met those of his father and he thought he'd try to win him over, "dad-"was all he got out before Arthur Weasley turned his back on him and left the room._

_Ron felt his heart break; how could his family turn their back on him? The pain was quickly replaced with anger; it was ALL HERMIONE'S FAULT! It was HER FAULT that HIS family turned their back on him. Fine if they preferred that MUDBLOOD over her then he was better off without them, he had Isabella, she was all he needed._

_He eyed the crowd, Molly, Ginny, Harry, Bill, Fleur, and even little Victore were all glaring at him. He tried to glare back at them with a look of defiance in his eyes (and failed) and left with Isabella._

***End Flashback***

"Wow" was all Hermione could get out.

Ginny just shook her head at the memory; her brother was such a fucking idiot.

"Well, enough about Ron" said Hermione smiling "how about another round?"

Draco, Ginny and Blaise all smiled and nodded; Hermione got up and fixed another round of drinks for her friends.

She felt so much better now that she had finally told Ginny what happened; now all that was left was to tell Harry, little did she know he already knew everything.

Now that Ginny had the okay to tell Harry where she was, all hell was about to break loose.

* * *

><p><strong>Like I said, I'd end up putting all the chapters up today and I actually might do that :P especially because Harry finally finds out in the next chapter and that's sort of the catalyst for so many things to happen! :D please review!<strong>


	21. I have to pack

**third of five chapters, Harry FINALLY finds out! :D I hope you all like it!**

* * *

><p>The next morning Ginny woke up with a bit of a hangover; who knew a few cosmopolitans could do that to a person?<p>

She looked around and was started; she was not in her hotel room. She was still in the clothes she had on last night, why?

Then everything came back to her; they had all went to Hermione's loft after dinner and had some drinks. They'd stayed up talking all night and before they knew it, it was 3 in the morning. Hermione insisted they stay the night, so they did. Blaise and Ginny stayed in her second bedroom and she thought Draco had stayed on the couch in the living room but when she and Blaise walked out of their room, he was nowhere to be found. A few minutes later Draco and Hermione walked out of her room, Draco behind Hermione with his arms around her waist and kissing her neck, making Hermione giggle.

"Well, well, well, would you look at this…" said Ginny smiling slyly making Hermione and Draco jump apart.

"Uh…morning guys" said Hermione whose face was now crimson with embarrassment "I thought you and Blaise would still be asleep"

"We just woke up" replied Blaise.

Hermione was still red as a tomato and Ginny was still smiling at her friend.

"So," finally said Draco "how about some breakfast?"

Hermione looked over at Draco silently thanking him for his sudden interruption.

"Breakfast sounds great" said Blaise "especially with everything we drank last night.

The four of them decided to stay in for breakfast; Draco and Blaise set the table and made coffee while Hermione and Ginny made eggs, bacon, and crepes filled with strawberries and Nutella.

"These crepes are AMAZING Hermione" said Blaise.

"Thanks Blaise, I've always loved strawberry filled crepes, Nutella just adds to the deliciousness!"

The four had a very nice breakfast together reminiscing about their days at Hogwarts and catching Hermione up on everything that had happened during her absence.

After breakfast, Draco and Blaise offered to clean the dishes while Hermione and Ginny relaxed a bit, then all of a sudden Ginny's cell phone rang.

"Who is it?" asked Hermione

Ginny froze for a bit, "It's Harry" she replied slowly.

Hermione froze for a few seconds, "answer it" she finally said after a while.

"What do I tell him?"

"The truth, I already said you could tell him, just make sure he doesn't let it slip to anyone else, well except for Luna since they're together."

"Okay" replied Ginny. She took a deep breath and answered the phone.

* * *

><p>Harry sat on his favorite chair in the living room of 12 Grimmauld place, he hadn't heard from Ginny in a while and had gotten worried. He knew she wasn't in training, that ended last week, but she always contacted him afterwards to schedule their routine lunchdinner together. He'd figured that she was with Blaise but he called his office and found out that he and Draco were on a business trip in the states. Where could the redhead have gone? Finally he decided that he would call her and make sure she was okay and find out why she hadn't called or contacted him.

The phone had been ringing for at least a minute already; Harry was considering hanging up and trying again later when he heard a familiar voice on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Ginny?"

"Hey Harry! How are you?"

"WORRIED!"

"Worried? Why worried?"

"I haven't heard from you in days! I know training is over and I was waiting for your call to schedule our dinner together but I got nothing!"

"I'm so sorry Harry! It's just that I hadn't seen Blaise in such a long time and I found out he was in Dallas on a business trip so I came over to surprise him. I'm sorry I didn't call you earlier to tell you."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh thank god, its okay Gin, I'm just glad to hear you're alright. I thought something had happened to you, I don't know what I would do if I lost ANOTHER best friend."

Ginny coughed at that last comment.

"Are you alright Ginny?"

Ginny stopped coughing enough to answer him, "Yea, I'm fine Harry. So what's on your mind?"

Harry sighed, "Honestly? Hermione"

Ginny had another cough attack at the mention of Hermione.

"Ginny are you sure you're alright?"

Ginny stopped coughing again, "Yes Harry, I'm fine. Now what were you saying about Hermione?"

"Well her birthday is next week, you have no idea how much I wish I could talk to her if only to wish her a happy birthday."

Ginny froze for a few seconds.

"Ginny? Are you still there?"

"Huh? Oh yea, sorry Harry. I'm still here"

"Are you sure you're alright Ginny? If you want I can call back some other time"

"NO!" replied Ginny practically yelling

Harry laughed "alright, I won't call back later"

"Um…Harry?" asked Ginny suddenly sounding serious

"What is it Gin?" asked Harry growing concerned

Ginny stayed silent for a few seconds but finally said, "What if I told you I knew where Hermione was?"

Harry stopped breathing and nearly dropped the phone.

"What?" he finally breathed out.

"I-I know where Hermione is" said Ginny

"Wh-What? How? WHERE IS SHE!"

"Calm down Harry, she's here in Dallas, I found out a couple of days ago."

Harry was about to interrupt her when she stopped him.

"Before you ask, the reason I didn't tell you right away was because I promised Blaise I wouldn't tell you anything until after I talked to her and asked her if she minded if I told you."

"BUT WHY? YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME IMMEDIATELY, I WOULD HAVE RUSHED OVER THERE!"

"But that's exactly it Harry; you would have rushed over here, hunted her down and demanded answers as to why she left. If you knew what really happened to her, you would understand why she left."

Harry didn't say anything, he DID know what happened and he did understand why she left.

"Harry?"

Ginny's voice snapped Harry out of his trance.

Ginny was about to say something when Harry spoke.

"Ginny, I have to go"

"What?" asked Ginny

"I have to go, I have to pack"

"PACK?"

"Yes Ginny, I have to go pack; I'm booking the next flight to Dallas"

"Har-"was all Ginny got out before she heard the dial tone; Harry had hung up.

* * *

><p>Ginny sighed and turned back to Hermione who was sitting on the couch staring into her fireplace.<p>

"Mione?"

"Huh?"

"Well I told harry and he's on his way here."

Hermione sat straight up and looked at Ginny with a panicked look on her face. Draco, who had finished cleaning with Blaise, walked over, sat down and put his arms around her to comfort her; Hermione put her head on his shoulder.

"It will be okay Mione" whispered Draco and kissed her hair "If you're not ready for this then we can fly somewhere else and stay until Harry leaves Dallas."

Hermione was touched by his offer; he certainly was nothing like the boy she knew at Hogwarts. She turned and smiled at him, "thank you Draco" she said and then kissed him softly on the lips "but it's time for me to face everything."

Draco sighed "if this is really what you want"

Hermione just nodded in response, she wasn't really sure if she was ready to see Harry again but she had put this off for too long already.

An hour later, Blaise, Ginny and Draco left Hermione's loft; Draco asked Hermione if she would be okay or if she wanted him to stay, she said it was sweet of him to offer but she had Santi next door if she needed someone to vent to.

Draco, defeated, agreed to go back to his hotel and started to leave but was once again pulled back by Hermione and given another surprise kiss from her. He once again started to deepen the kiss but this time was interrupted by Blaise and Ginny who cleared their throats and smiled at the couple. Draco reluctantly let go of Hermione and left with his friends back to their hotel suite, Hermione went back inside her loft and went to take a relaxing bubble bath.

She would certainly need it to face what was coming.

* * *

><p><strong>So Harry is on his way to Dallas! but there's still so many things that will happen before he arrives! Don't forget to review!<strong>


	22. I think I love him

**So harry found out and now someone else is about to find out too ;D**

* * *

><p>Harry ran up to his room and threw open his closet doors, he needed to pack as quickly as possible. He was pulling out everything he could get his hands on and throwing it on the bed; he was so distracted that he didn't hear the front door open, the stairs squeak and his bedroom door open.<p>

"Harry?"

Harry immediately stopped his packing and looked at his doorway, there was Luna looking extremely worried.

"Hey Luna" he said quickly before going back to packing.

Luna looked around the room, there were clothes thrown every which way and there was a huge suitcase open on Harry's bed, but why? Was he leaving her? Did he not love her anymore? Luna grew more worried each passing second and didn't even notice the tears forming and falling from her eyes.

"Wha- What are you doing Harry? Why are you packing?"

Harry looked up again and saw his girlfriend crying; he immediately realized what his packing must have looked like to her and immediately walked over to her and hugged her.

"Luna, sweetie, don't cry; it's not what you think."

"S-so y-you're n-not l-leaving m-m-me?" she sniffled.

Harry hugged her tighter and kissed her hair, "Of course I'm not leaving you! I love you! It just…I called Ginny today and she gave me some big news."

Luna stopped crying and breathed a sigh of relief, she was glad to know that Harry was not leaving her and that he did love her, but he still hadn't told her why he was packing.

"What happened? Is Ginny alright?" she asked growing concerned, she and Ginny had become very close over the years.

"Ginny's fine, it's just that I called her today because I hadn't heard from her in a while and had gotten worried." He chuckled bitterly "I called to check up on her and ended up finding out about Hermione."

Luna pulled away from Harry and looked him with wide eyes, "What?"

"That was exactly my expression when her name came up" said Harry.

"What did Ginny tell you about Hermione?"

Harry took Luna's hand and led her to the bed where they sat down.

"It just started out with Ginny telling me that she was in Dallas with Blaise; after that was established, she asked me what was on my mind and I told her, Hermione. One thing led to another and she ended up telling me that Hermione was there in Dallas as well."

Luna's jaw dropped, "I take it, the reason you're packing is because you're heading to Dallas?" she asked a bit sadly. Luna was glad he finally located his best friend but in the time he would be gone, she'd miss him terribly.

Once again Harry read Luna like a book; he would miss her too, in fact so much that he decided then and there that he could not go without her.

"Go with me" he said suddenly.

Luna looked at him like a deer caught in headlights, "what?"

Harry smiled, "You heard me, go with me to Dallas. I'd constantly be thinking about you and I know Hermione would love to see you too. So what do you say?"

She thought about it for a while; she'd LOVE to go with Harry because honestly she'd love to see Hermione as well and that way she'd be with Harry, but who would take her place as editor of The Quibbler? She was about to say no but decided against it; it's not every day she got to travel across the world with the man she loved.

"Yes" she finally squeaked out.

Harry smiled widely and hugged his girlfriend, "This is going to be GREAT! I get to see Hermione again after four long years and what's even better; I'll be able to share the experience with the woman I love."

Luna hugged him back but pulled back after a few minutes, "Okay now that, that issue is settled, I have to get packing. What time is our flight?"

"Well now that we're BOTH going, it's better to take the last flight available; it will give us enough time to pack and rest a bit before the flight."

Luna smiled, nodded and bent down to kiss Harry on the cheek before heading toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Harry, I may not be your average girl but I'm STILL a girl; it will take me HOURS to get everything packed" replied Luna, laughing and walking out.

Harry chuckled and returned to the task at hand.

* * *

><p>Hermione stared out her window thinking about what had happened in the last couple of days. So much had happened, it was surreal; she had reunited with one of her best friends, she and Draco had become VERY close and she would be reunited with her other best friend in, most likely, a matter of hours.<p>

She was finally about to head to her room to take that relaxing bubble bath when her doorbell rang. She walked over and opened the door; outside stood Santi.

"Hey Santi, how are you?" asked Hermione while motioning him to come inside.

"I'm FABULOUS" he said grinning widely "but I'm not here to talk about me…"

"That's a first" teased Hermione

"Very funny Mione but seriously I'm here to ask about how it went with Ginny."

"Of course, would you like something to drink to go with my riveting story?" asked Hermione

"Are you British?" retorted Santi

Hermione laughed and walked to her kitchen where she prepared two crushed velvets (their favorite mocktail); she returned, handed Santi his cup and they both went to sit down on the couch in front of her fireplace.

"Okay, tell me EVERYTHING and don't skip out on any details."

Hermione simply nodded and began to recall last night's events. Fifteen minutes later, Hermione finished telling Santi everything, sparing no details.

When she finished, she looked to and found Santi smiling wickedly, "SO" he began "What exactly happened between you and Draco last night?" he finished, poking her side making her laugh.

"Out of everything I just told you, you only paid attention to me and Draco? and to answer your question, nothing happened you pervert, well nothing that hadn't already happened between us already"

Santi's expression deflated, "So you didn't fuck?" he asked bluntly.

Hermione laughed and slapped his arm, "You're so crass Santi, but for your information, no we did not FUCK. Not yet anyways." She baited and quickly got up to make herself another crushed velvet.

A few seconds passed and Santi realized how Hermione had ended her sentence and immediately got up to follow her into the kitchen.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa back up a sec Mione, did you say 'not YET'?"

Hermione turned to face her friend, this time the wicked smile was on HER face, "Maybe…" she said.

Santi's jaw dropped; a few days ago he had a hard time convincing her that Draco Malfoy LIKED HER, now she was talking about having sex with him?

Hermione laughed at Santi's expression.

"What the hell, Mione? When you saw him I had to practically force you to say that he was HOT out loud and now you're thinking of fucking him?"

Hermione just laughed again and blushed, "yup" was all she replied.

"YUP! That's all you're going to say?"

Hermione sighed; "Honestly Santi, it's hard to put into words what really made me change my mind but I'll try" she started.

"He's so different now, nothing like the boy I knew at Hogwarts that would make my days hell and constantly call me 'Mudblood'. He's so sweet and attentive. He's apologized a million times for everything he did and said, he's doing everything he can to show me he's changed and in no way does it feel forced. I can tell he really cares for me, and genuinely likes me for ME, flaws and all, unlike the idiots that try to pick me up at the bar who only like the way I look. Draco knows how I am, so I never have to pretend to be someone I'm not around him."

Santi just stared at his best friend, who knew all this could happen in a few days, but he felt the passion in her words and knew that she meant every word she said.

"Santi…"

"What is it Mione?"

"I-I think…"

"You think what?"

"I think I l-love him."

* * *

><p><strong>She loves him! well of course she does, otherwise it wouldn't be Dramione :P review!<strong>


	23. Destination: Dallas

**So Luna knows and she and Harry are preparing for their trip to Dallas, but what about Ron? well you're about to find out :D**

* * *

><p>Harry and Luna spent the next three or so hours packing and getting everything ready for their impromptu trip to Dallas. After packing the couple took a quick nap, another few hours later they woke up and started to gather everything before they left. In all their rushing neither heard the doorbell ring, or the door open minutes later.<p>

Harry and Luna were running down the stairs with their suitcases but stopped near the bottom when they saw a flash of red; Ron was standing at the door.

"What's with the suitcases?" asked Ron

Harry and Luna were in too much of a rush to even acknowledge his question so they just rushed past him into the living room where the rest of their things were.

Ron was somewhat insulted that neither of them answered him and pretty much just ignored him; he followed them into the living room.

"HEY!" he shouted "I ASKED YOU A BLOODY QUESTION!"

Harry grew irritated with the redhead; he was already stressed enough with his sudden trip, he did NOT need the ginger breathing down his neck, demanding answers and shouting like he owned the fucking place.

"NONE OF YOUR GOD DAMN BUSINESS RONALD!" shouted Luna; making both men stare at her with their mouths open. Where did this sudden rage come from? The blonde normally had such a calm demeanor.

Ron continued to stare at Luna when Harry suddenly said, "What Luna said; now if you'd PLEASE leave MY home, we can finish getting ready."

Normally Ron would oblige but not today; he had a feeling that wherever they were going was important and not just to them.

Ron stood his ground and stared hard at Harry and his girlfriend, "NO," he said "I'm not leaving until you tell me where you guys are going and WHY"

Harry knew how stubborn the redhead could be, he lived with him for seven years and it also ran in his family. He tried to think of a convincing lie but came but blank but apparently Luna didn't.

"Not that it's any of your business Ronald, but we're eloping; we're heading to Vegas" she said with a straight face, like if that was really their reason for going stateside.

Ron searched Luna's eyes for the truth but found nothing; he could not tell if she was lying or not.

"Where's the ring?" he asked the couple "Her ring finger is bare"

This time Harry answered, "Like she said, we're eloping, there's no need for a ring, but if she decides she wants one after we get married then I'll buy her one."

Ron again searched for the truth but this time in Harry's eyes, and again found nothing. He still felt that they were lying to him, but decided to go along with it all and see where it led him.

"Oh." He said stupidly, "congratulations, I hope you two are happy together" he then walked out of 12 Grimmauld place.

Harry and Luna breathed a sigh of relief; Ron finally left…or so they thought. Ron walked out of Harry's place and hid in the nearest alley, he would wait until Harry and Luna left and he'd follow them to the airport and see where they were flying.

Not even ten minutes later a taxi pulled up and Harry and Luna emerged from the front door dragging their suitcases behind them. They loaded up the taxi and left for the airport, Ron hailed down the next taxi and headed toward the airport.

* * *

><p>Hermione stood staring out her window again; Santi had left a few hours after she revealed that she might be in love with Draco Malfoy.<p>

Santi did not leave by choice though; he had to get ready for work, he had to go in earlier today because there was a small banquet being held there. Hermione would still perform later that night though, the banquet would only last a few hours, and then the night would continue as usual.

Tonight's performance was the last thing on her mind at that moment; all she could think of was what was going to happen when Harry arrived. She thought it had gone well with Ginny mainly because she was also a woman and could understand the pain of being cheated on and losing your first child; she was not so sure Harry would be quite as understanding. Of course he would sympathize with her for what happened to her, she had no doubt of that but she was not sure he would agree with her that leaving the country was the best idea. He might argue that she should have stayed and he and Ginny would have helped her; much like Ginny had tried to argue when they finally talked the night before.

Hermione had nothing to worry, although she did not know that, yet. She had no idea that Ron had told Harry everything and he completely took her side in the decision she took to leave, although he was still hurt that she did not tell him everything beforehand.

She walked over to her kitchen and made herself a chamomile tea to calm herself, after she finished the tea she headed toward her bathroom to FINALLY take that relaxing bubble bath before getting ready for her performance that night.

Hermione had just gotten out of the bath and was still wrapped up in her bath robe when her doorbell rang. She brushed her still wet hair, slipped her feet into some house slippers and walked to answer the door; she was greeted with the smiling faces of Draco, Blaise and Ginny.

"Hey Mione!" greeted Ginny "Oh, are you sick?" she asked after seeing her in her bath robe.

Hermione chuckled and motioned for them to come inside, "No I'm fine; it's just that I barely got out of a bath. I was just about to start getting ready for tonight's performance when you rang the doorbell" she replied "but please make yourselves at home, I won't take long."

Blaise and Draco sat on her couch and turned on the TV but Ginny asked if she could help her get ready, Hermione agreed and they both went into her bedroom.

Ginny sat on Hermione's bed while Hermione went into her closet to pull out options for tonight.

"Hey Mione…" said Ginny.

"Yea?" asked Hermione while still rummaging through her closet.

"I got an email from Harry before we came here."

Hermione dropped everything she had in her hands and froze.

Ginny took her silence as a sign to continue so she did, "He and Luna took the last flight out of London tonight."

Hermione walked out of her closet, leaned against the doorway and looked at Ginny.

"Something tells me that's not all he told you" she finally said.

Ginny hesitated for a bit but finally answered, "You're right"; she hesitated again.

"Spit it out Ginny" urged Hermione.

Ginny sighed and continued, "The same day I arrived in Dallas, Ron went to visit Harry"

Hermione stiffened at the mention of her ex fiancé, but nodded at Ginny to continue.

"He told Harry that he left HER" said Ginny, not even wanting to speak the woman's name "He told Harry everything that you told me and also that he wanted Harry's help"

"Help with WHAT?" spat Hermione

Ginny sighed again and replied, "He wanted Harry to help… get you back."

Hermione's jaw dropped to the floor, this could not be happening.

A few minutes later Hermione finally spoke, "a-are you serious?"

Ginny looked Hermione straight in the eye, "Mione, would I lie about something so serious?"

Hermione sighed; Ginny would never make up something so serious, especially after hearing everything that happened to her.

Hermione's eyes started to water, Ginny started to panic, she knew what was coming.

Hermione started hyperventilating, Ginny tried to calm her down but nothing she did worked so she did the only thing that came to mind; she went and got Draco.

Ginny ran out of Hermione's room shouting Draco's name; Draco jumped up from the couch when Ginny came into the living room.

"What's wrong!" he asked

"Hermione" she gasped out.

That was all Draco needed to hear; he ran into her room and found her crying hysterically on the floor.

"Hermione," he whispered and ran over to her. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her over to her bed where he set her down.

He held her close as she cried, whispering soothing words to try and calm her down. It seemed to work; Hermione stopped crying hysterically, she was still crying but now it was softer. She held on to Draco as if she was clinging on for dear life.

Draco rocked her back and forth, and covered her face with soft kisses. Hermione still had tears running down her face but her breathing had leveled; Draco's presence did wonders for her emotional health. As Draco continued to kiss her forehead and cheeks, Hermione decided that she did not think she was in love with Draco; she KNEW she was. She had never been so sure of anything in her life as she was of her love for Draco.

She buried her head in his chest and inhaled his scent; he tightened his hold on her.

"I love you" she whispered

Draco pulled back, shocked at her words, did she really just say that she loved him?

Hermione also pulled away from his chest and looked straight at him so he could see that she was not lying.

Draco searched her eyes and found sincerity; she really did love him. He pulled her into him again and kissed her passionately; "I love you too" he whispered back after he pulled back from their kiss.

The two kissed again and held each other for what felt like ages until Hermione realized she still had to get ready for tonight; she kissed Draco again before getting up from her bed and heading toward her closet to pick out what she would wear that night.

She ended up deciding on a white one shouldered dress with a wide black studded belt around her waist, sheer black nylons and the Louboutin boots she'd originally wanted to wear on her first date with Draco.

Hopefully being on that stage would be as calming as it had been the night she talked with Ginny.

* * *

><p>Harry and Luna got out of their taxi, retrieved their luggage and headed inside the airport; a few minutes later, Ron arrived behind them. He cast a disillusionment spell on himself and head inside, following stealthily behind Harry and Luna.<p>

The couple arrived at the check in desk, received their boarding passes and checked in their luggage; Ron was right behind them during the entire process but neither of them noticed because of the spell.

As they received their boarding passes, Ron paid extra close attention to see their destination; just as suspected, it was not Las Vegas, but Dallas, Texas. Why did they lie to him?

"I can't believe you're finally going to see Hermione after four years!" whispered Luna excitedly.

HERMIONE! THEY WERE GOING TO SEE HERMIONE? SINCE WHEN DID THE KNOW WHERE SHE WAS!

Ron held back the gasp he so desperately wanted to exhale; he did not want to be discovered.

"Shhh" whispered Harry "No one is supposed to know that we're going to Dallas to see Hermione"

"Oh Harry, no one here would knows who Hermione is, don't worry so much"

Ron ran away from the couple and ran to the info desk and see if there was an available seat on the same flight as Harry and Luna, he was in luck; he bought the very last seat, at the very back. "This is perfect" he thought, he'd finally get the chance to see Hermione again and try to win her back; and he WOULD win her back, with or without Harry's help.

The flight would leave in an hour; Ron rushed into the restrooms, made sure no one was there and apparated to his bedroom to pack as quickly as possible. He grabbed all the clean clothes he could find and shoved them into his smallest suitcase; twenty minutes later he apparated back into the empty restrooms and walked back out into the waiting area with his suitcase.

Half an hour later, Harry and Luna boarded the plane completely oblivious to the fact that Ron was on the same flight, too excited at the prospect of seeing their long lost friend.

* * *

><p><strong>:O! RON KNOWS! Things are about to get even more interesting ;D <strong>**So this is the last chapter I completed while on vacation, but like I said earlier, I'm already working on the next chapter. I hope you all liked what I wrote on vacation, and I hope this made up for not updating until today. please don't forget to review, what did you like? what didn't you like? what would you like to happen?**


	24. Lovesong

**This is definitely my longest chapter yet! I hope you enjoy this chapter, I really enjoyed writing it. I'm so glad you all are liking the chapters I wrote! I love getting emails saying that more and more people are subscribing to this story and adding it to their favorites and I love getting review notification emails even more *hint hint* lol.**

* * *

><p>Nightfall came quickly for Hermione; this day had been so very eventful, first Ginny telling Harry where she was, telling Santi that she might be in love with Draco, the panic attack after finding out that Ron wanted her back and finally, telling Draco that she loved him and him telling her he felt the same.<p>

Had she not heard about Ron, she would be on cloud nine; the man she loved, loved her back. Unfortunately she HAD heard about Ron and instead of basking in the love she and Draco felt for each other, her mind constantly went to the redhead; why did he want her back? Did Harry tell him where she was? Would he help Ron try and win her back?

Her head was filled with questions she would not know the answer to until or if she was put into that situation.

"Mione?"

"Huh?"

Hermione had been sitting in front of the massive Hollywood style vanity she had in her room, staring off into space when she heard her name called. She turned around and saw Draco sitting at the foot of her bed, staring at her worriedly.

"Are you alright love?"

Hermione smiled at the way he ended his question, with that one word, all thoughts of Ron rushed out of her mind.

She got up, and kissed Draco softly on the lips, "I'm fine love"

Draco smiled, pulled her down to sit on his lap and kissed her passionately, "I love you so much Hermione"

Hermione pulled back and happily replied, "I love you too Draco"

Draco pulled her back in for another kiss, this time Hermione started to deepen the kiss but they were, again, interrupted by Ginny and Blaise.

"Damn Draco, I just sent you in to stop her panic attack, not seduce her" she said teasingly.

Hermione blushed and Draco smiled as he replied, "Hey I never say anything when I walk in on you and Blaise dry humping."

This time Ginny grew crimson, Blaise just laughed and started to pull Ginny out of the room, "Come on Gin" he said "I think it's best if we give these two lovebirds some privacy."

Draco interrupted the pair, "as much as I would love to be left alone with Hermione for a bit more" he said as he squeezed Hermione's thigh who smiled, "I think it's about time we head down to The House of Blues, it's almost time for Mione to go on."

Ginny looked at her watch, "You're right, you go on in half an hour Mione, we should get going."

With that, the two couples left Hermione's loft hand in hand with their better halves, heading toward the house of blues.

* * *

><p>Harry and Luna sat in first class, Luna reading and Harry was on his laptop constantly checking his email.<p>

"Harry, how many times are you going to check your email?" asked Luna

"Until Ginny replies" said Harry immediately not even turning to look at his girlfriend.

Luna sighed and returned to her book.

Ron sat in his seat also in first class but in the very back next to the window; he still had the spell on him but still had a black hoodie on just in case Harry or Luna happened to walk past his seat. He sat staring out the window until he could only see the ocean; he then brought out his laptop. His background was a slideshow of him and Hermione when they were happy. As he looked at the pictures pass, he couldn't help but feel angry at himself, she looked so beautiful in the pictures and they looked so happy.

"God, I was such a fucking idiot for letting her go" he thought to himself. But Hermione was such a good person, she'd give him another chance, she HAD to, they had after all been engaged to be married. Even after four years, she still had love him…if only just a little.

He continued to stare at the pictures until he fell asleep somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean; dreaming of his perfect reunion with Hermione, who was sure to welcome him back with open arms. If only he knew that he was last thing on Hermione's mind now that she was with none other than Draco Malfoy.

* * *

><p>Hermione sat in her dressing room preparing for her performance when Draco walked in.<p>

"Draco, what are you doing here?" she asked "I'm about to go on, you should be out there with Ginny and Blaise"

"I know, but I just wanted to wish you good luck and make sure you weren't about to have another panic attack" he said walking over to her.

Hermione stood up and smiled at him, "That's sweet of you but I'm fine, if anything, being on that stage will make me feel a million times better, not worse."

Draco smiled, "well now that's said, I still have to wish you good luck". He put his hands around her waist, pulled her close and kissed her softly on the lips, "Good luck, I love you" he whispered.

Hermione smiled, "I love hearing you say that" she said kissing him back.

Draco pulled back and looked her straight in the eye.

"Is something wrong Draco?" she asked getting worried.

Draco just took her face in his hands and kissed her again, "It's just…I realized I haven't done something yet"

"And what is that?"

"Hermione Jean Granger, will you be mine?"

Hermione giggled" wait, am I imagining things or did THE Draco Malfoy really just ask me to be his girlfriend?"

"You make me sound so prissy when you say it like that" he replied smiling "but yes, that is another way of rephrasing my question".

Just as Hermione opened her mouth to reply, Santi busted into her room, "Hermione you're on in a minute! You better get going, oh, hey Draco" he said before rushing and grabbing Hermione and pulling her out of the room.

"I WILL" she yelled at Draco before being dragged out of her room and toward the stage, leaving Draco in her dressing room smiling like a loon.

* * *

><p>After Hermione was out of the room, Draco walked out of the room and toward the restaurant still smiling like he'd just won the lottery.<p>

"What happened to YOU?" asked Blaise upon seeing his friend walk up to their table with a grin on his face that seemed wider than was humanly possible.

"She said yes" he replied after sitting down.

"Who said yes to what?" asked Ginny who had just come back from the ladies room.

Blaise filled Ginny in on what had just happened with Draco and Hermione.

"That's GREAT!" exclaimed Ginny, who was happy her best friend had found someone who genuinely loved her for her.

She then turned serious and faced Draco, "I'm happy for you Drake, but if you EVER hurt her in any way, I WILL END YOU" she hissed.

Draco gulped, he knew better than to take a threat from this particular Weasley lightly, "I promise you I will never hurt her"

"Good" she replied then turned to face the stage, "oh look, the curtain is finally being raised" she said pulling out a Flip video camera.

Draco and Blaise both turned to face the stage as a spotlight was cast on the stage and the curtain was raised revealing a radiant Hermione.

* * *

><p>"I'd like to dedicate this particular performance to someone very special, my boyfriend" she said looking directly at Draco and smiling at him.<p>

A guitar started to play, then another and as always, Hermione let the music wash over her as she started to sing.

_Whenever I'm alone with you  
>You make me feel like I am home again<br>Whenever I'm alone with you  
>You make me feel like I am whole again<em>

_Whenever I'm alone with you  
>You make me feel like I am young again<br>Whenever I'm alone with you  
>You make me feel like I am fun again<em>

_However far away I will always love you  
>However long I stay I will always love you<br>Whatever words I say I will always love you  
>I will always love you<br>Whatever words I say I will always love you  
>I will always love you<em>

_Whenever I'm alone with you  
>You make me feel like I am free again<br>Whenever I'm alone with you  
>You make me feel like I am clean again<em>

_However far away I will always love you  
>However long I stay I will always love you<br>Whatever words I say I will always love you  
>I will always love you<em>

_However far away I will always love you  
>However long I stay I will always love you<br>Whatever words I say I will always love you  
>I'll always love you<br>I'll always love you  
>Cause I love you<em>

The room erupted in applause and Draco, Blaise and Ginny all stood up clapping; Draco winked at her before sitting down again.

Hermione decided to continue with another slow song and this time the piano started to play and she took a deep breath before starting to sing again.

_Heart beats fast  
>Colors and promises<br>How to be brave  
>How can I love when I'm afraid to fall<br>But watching you stand alone  
>All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow<em>

_One step closer_

_I have died everyday waiting for you_  
><em>Darling don't be afraid I have loved you<em>  
><em>For a thousand years<em>  
><em>I'll love you for a thousand more<em>

_Time stands still_  
><em>Beauty in all she is<em>  
><em>I will be brave<em>  
><em>I will not let anything take away<em>  
><em>What's standing in front of me<em>  
><em>Every breath<em>  
><em>Every hour has come to this<em>

_One step closer_

_I have died everyday waiting for you_  
><em>Darling don't be afraid I have loved you<em>  
><em>For a thousand years<em>  
><em>I'll love you for a thousand more<em>

_And all along I believed I would find you_  
><em>Time has brought your heart to me<em>  
><em>I have loved you for a thousand years<em>  
><em>I'll love you for a thousand more<em>

_One step closer_  
><em>One step closer<em>

_I have died everyday waiting for you_  
><em>Darling don't be afraid I have loved you<em>  
><em>For a thousand years<em>  
><em>I'll love you for a thousand more<em>

_And all along I believed I would find you_  
><em>Time has brought your heart to me<em>  
><em>I have loved you for a thousand years<em>  
><em>I'll love you for a thousand more<em>

Again the room erupted in applause and Hermione took a bow, as she prepared for her last song of the night, Draco caught her eye as he mouthed "I love you" to her. Just as she was about to start again she mouthed "I love you too" to him.

"For my last number I'd like to end with something a bit more upbeat" said Hermione as the music started to play again and she started to sing.

_Hey yeah_

_(Do your thang honey)_

_I could feel it from the start_  
><em>Couldn't stand to be apart<em>  
><em>Something ?bout you caught my eye<em>  
><em>Something moved me deep inside<em>

_I don't know what you did boy but you had it_  
><em>And I've been hooked ever since<em>

_I told my mother, my brother, my sister and my friends_  
><em>Told the others, my lovers from past and present tense<em>  
><em>That every time I see you everything starts making sense<em>

_(Do your thang honey)_

_Ain't no other man can stand up next to you_  
><em>Ain't no other man on the planet does what you do<em>  
><em>You're the kinda guy a girl finds in a blue moon<em>  
><em>You got soul, you got class, you got style with your bad ass<em>

_Ain't no other man, it's true_  
><em>Ain't no other man but you<em>

_Never thought I'd be alright, no no no_  
><em>?Til you came and changed my life, yeah yeah yeah<em>  
><em>What was cloudy now is clear, yeah yeah<em>  
><em>You're the light that I needed<em>

_You got what I want boy and I want it_  
><em>So keep on givin' it up<em>

_So tell your mother, your brother, your sister and your friends_  
><em>And the others, your lovers, better not be present tense<em>  
><em>?Cause I want everyone to know that you are mine and no one else's<em>

_Ain't no other man can stand up next to you_  
><em>Ain't no other man on the planet does what you do<em>  
><em>You're the kinda guy a girl finds in a blue moon<em>  
><em>You got soul, you got class, you got style with your bad ass<em>

_Ain't no other man, it's true_  
><em>Ain't no other man but you<em>

_(Break it down now)_

_Ain't no other, ain't, ain't no other other_  
><em>Ain't no other, ain't, ain't no other lover<em>  
><em>Ain't no other, I-I-I need no other<em>  
><em>Ain't no other man but you<em>

_You are there when I'm a mess_  
><em>Talk me down from every ledge<em>  
><em>Give me strength, boy you're the best<em>  
><em>You're the only one who's ever passed every test<em>

_Ain't no other man can stand up next to you_  
><em>Ain't no other man on the planet does what you do<em>  
><em>You're the kinda guy a girl finds in a blue moon<em>  
><em>You got soul, you got class, you got style with your bad ass<em>

_Ain't no other man, it's true_  
><em>Ain't no other man but you<em>  
><em>And now I'm telling you<em>  
><em>Said ain't no other man but you!<em>

_Ain't no other man can stand up next to you_  
><em>Ain't no other man on the planet does what you do<em>  
><em>You're the kinda guy a girl finds in a blue moon<em>  
><em>You got soul, you got class, you got style with your bad ass<em>

_Ain't no other man, it's true_  
><em>Ain't no other man but you<em>

As she ended the song, the room erupted in applause, whistles and hollers from every direction.

Hermione laughed and took a bow as the applause continued, she loved the feeling performing gave her and not once did Ron enter her mind.

She walked off the stage but instead of heading to her dressing room, she headed toward her friend's table, pulled Draco up and kissed him passionately resulting in whistles and more clapping from the crowd.

Hermione pulled back and whispered to Draco, "And that was just the beginning of what I had planned for tonight".

A million thoughts ran through Draco's mind after that, he wanted to pull her into another kiss but she was already walking away.

Before she finally disappeared behind the stage, she turned around and winked at Draco.

As she walked down the hallway toward her dressing room she could not help but smile widely; it took four years but her life was finally changing…for the better.

* * *

><p><strong>Did you like it? :D I really hope so! The songs used, in case you didn't recognize them, were "Lovesong" by Adele, "A thousand years" by Christina Perri, and "Ain't no other man" by Christina Aguilera. Review please!<strong>


	25. Make you feel my love

**okay now THIS is my longest chapter yet and Lillian there is just one song in this chapter so the majority is the actual story and not lyrics. :) I'm actually really proud of this chapter so I really hope you guys like it :) oh and I added more pictures to my photobucket account of the room and Hermione's outfit and Blaise's car, except the room pictures does not have EVERYTHING I describe, but just little details, so for the most part the picture I put up is the room. In the case you are new to the story or just forgot what the url was, it's photobucket (dot) com / thevoicefanfic (without the spaces obviously). without further ado, here's the next chapter!**

* * *

><p>Harry continued to stare at his computer screen; they were still somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean and Luna had now fallen asleep. He too was about to give into sleep when his computer pinged, it was an email from Ginny with a video attachment.<p>

Harry quickly opened it, put on headphones so as not to wake Luna and pushed play. As soon as he did so, he was greeted with Ginny's smiling face, "Hey harry!" began the video "by the time you get this, you'll probably be on a plane on your way to Dallas."

She was sitting on a couch in what Harry thought was her hotel room, suddenly Harry caught sight of a particular dark skinned Italian sitting next to her. Harry smiled upon seeing Blaise, while he and Ginny had not been able to make it work, he was glad that Blaise was able to give Ginny the love she deserved.

Ginny began to speak again "I know you're anxious to see Hermione but you'll have to wait a couple of hours before seeing her in person, so in the meantime I'll let you see her through video."

"What is she talking about" thought Harry, just then the video went black for a few seconds and then the scene changed, the camera pointed to a stage as the curtain was being lifted, revealing Hermione.

Harry gasped and almost jumped out of his seat upon seeing his best friend; she was just as, if not MORE, gorgeous than he remembered.

"Harry?"

Harry looked over to find Luna slowly waking from her slumber, "What's wrong?" she asked "I felt you jump, is everything alright?"

Harry just turned his laptop so Luna could see the video.

"OH MY GOD is that Hermione?" asked Luna, now fully awake.

Harry smiled widely and nodded, "That's Hermione"

He looked around at the other passengers and when he was sure no one was looking, he got out his wand and conjured up a pair of wireless headphones so Luna could also listen.

Together they watched and listened to Hermione belt out songs by Adele, Christina Perri and Christina Aguilera.

"Wow" said the couple in unison after her performance ended.

The video went black again for a bit and Luna was about to say something when Ginny's face appeared again, this time sitting on a bed; "well there you have it Harry, I hope you enjoyed seeing and hearing Hermione if only for a while. So many things have happened in just a few days, too much for me to just tell you through this video, I'll explain everything when you get here. I can't wait to see you again and I know Hermione is just as excited to see you as I am. Bye! Oh and say hi to Luna for me!"

With that the video ended and left Harry and Luna smiling; finally Harry was at peace and able to sleep. The next time he woke up, he would finally be in Dallas, TX.

* * *

><p>Hermione and Draco walked hand in hand back to her loft; after her performance, Ginny and Blaise went back to their hotel to spend "quality time together" and Santi once again went home with Devin, leaving Draco and Hermione alone.<p>

As soon as Ginny and Blaise left, Hermione didn't hesitate to ask Draco if he wanted to go back to her place, Draco immediately said yes, of course.

On their way to her place, they once again happened to pass the same expecting couple that caused Hermione to break down last time.

Draco spotted them first and stopped walking.

"Draco, what's wrong" asked Hermione, and then she noticed the couple.

"Are you alright Love? We can wait until they pass if you want"

Hermione turned to face the man she loved, smiling; she kissed him softly on the lips, "Thank you for worrying about me, but I'm fine this time."

She took Draco by the hand again and started pulling him in the direction of her building.

Five minutes later they were outside her door making out against her door, "Draco-"she said between kisses "I have to open the door"

"It can wait" he said, kissing her passionately.

Hermione smiled and finally pushed Draco away long enough for her to open her door and walk inside. As soon as the door was closed and locked, both fell ravenously on each other's lips once more, hands wandering all over the other's body.

The couple, by some miracle, made it to Hermione's bedroom without falling down or knocking anything over; that is, until they finally fell on Hermione's bed.

They both laughed as they hit the mattress, Draco reached and pushed strands of hair from Hermione's face behind her ear.

"I love you Hermione Jean Granger"

Hermione gave him a quick peck on the lips before replying, "I love you too Draco Lucius Malfoy"

Draco again reached up but this time to bring Hermione closer to him and began kissing her again.

* * *

><p>Ron woke up startled, he didn't recognized his surroundings and it wasn't until a stewardess walked by that he remembered he was on a flight from London to Dallas, TX to be reunited with HIS Hermione.<p>

He looked out the window and saw nothing but the Tundra of Canada; he was suddenly filled with a sadness that could only be caused by heartbreak, but why?

He could not shake the sadness no matter how hard he tried, but he really paid no attention to it; as soon as he landed in Dallas and found Hermione, his life would be filled with nothing but love…because Hermione WOULD love him, he would make sure of it.

* * *

><p>Hermione was now in her kitchen, with no shoes, hair messed up and lips swollen from making out with Draco nonstop. She was preparing drinks for herself and Draco as Draco was preparing some sort of surprise for Hermione in her bedroom; no matter how much she begged, he would not tell her anything so she finally relented and went to prepare their drinks.<p>

Just as she finished preparing a Manhattan for herself and a Sidebar for Draco, Hermione felt a chill go down her spine and Goosebumps appear on her skin; she then got a horrible feeling, like something was about to try and ruin her and Draco's happiness. She quickly dismissed this feeling; NOTHING could bring her down now that she was with Draco.

She picked up their drinks and walked over to her bedroom door, "Can I come in yet?" she asked loudly.

Draco opened the door just wide enough for him to pop his head out, "It's finished, but you can't come in yet"

"And why not?" she asked

Draco opened the door a little more and slipped out, "Because" he said "I have to put THIS on you" he waved his wand and a blindfold appeared in his hand.

Hermione giggled as Draco took the drinks from her hands, set them down, walked behind her and put the blindfold around her eyes.

"Wait, what about our drinks?" she asked as she was led forward.

Draco smiled, "Don't worry, I'll go get them in a second"

As she was led into her room, she was hit by the smell of roses and vanilla, she wondered where it was coming from, real roses? Candles?

Draco led her to what she thought was the center of the room and let go of her hands, she felt him move away and frowned a bit.

"Where are you going?" she asked moving her hands in front of her as if to find him.

Draco laughed to himself, "I have to get our drinks remember?"

Hermione blushed, "right" she said slightly embarrassed.

A few seconds later she felt Draco return to the room, she heard the clink of the glasses on a table as he set their drinks down.

"Are you finally going to take this blindfold off?" she asked when she felt Draco stand in front of her once again.

Draco smiled and simply replied, "Not just yet"

Hermione was about to reply when she felt Draco's arms wrap around her waist, pull her close and crush her lips with his. Instinctively she raised her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his silky hair.

After a few minutes of making out, Draco reluctantly pulled away making Hermione growl and pout. She was about to ask Draco why he pulled away when she felt him move behind her and finally begin to remove the blindfold.

She closed he eyes as she felt the blindfold fall.

"Open your eyes love" whispered Draco in her ear.

She opened her eyes slowly, when she opened her eyes fully, her jaw fell to the floor. This was not her bedroom, Draco must have transfigured everything. She stood in a massive room with canary yellow walls with soft yellow light fixtures, cherry hardwood floors, high ceilings covered in wood panels, and a large king sized, light wood, four poster bed with rose petals scattered all over the top, a tulle canopy and tulle curtains also surrounded in soft yellow light.

As she continued to look around the room, she also noticed that Draco had charmed vanilla scented candles to float in midair much like the ones she'd grown used to seeing at Hogwarts.

"Do you like your surprise Love?" whispered Draco, who was still standing behind her with his arms around her waist.

She turned around with a HUGE smile on her face, "I LOVE IT" she said before planting a huge kiss on his lips.

Draco started to deepen the kiss but he suddenly remembered he'd forgotten something, "mmm, Hermione" he said.

"What is it" she asked, continuing to kiss him

"I-I have to do one more thing"

"It can wait" she said, repeating the same three words he himself said to her earlier that night.

"No…it…can't" he replied between kisses before finally pulling away again, making Hermione pout again.

"What is so important that it couldn't wait?" she asked, watching him walk toward pair of speakers hooked up to his IPod.

"This" he said, pushing play, filling the room with music.

_When the rain is blowing in your face,  
>And the whole world is on your case,<br>I could offer you a warm embrace  
>To make you feel my love.<em>

Draco began walking back to Hermione and once again pulled her close to him and kissed her softly. Hermione also began kissing him back softly and lightly started to slide her hands up his chest until she finally locked her fingers together behind his neck.

_When the evening shadows and the stars appear,  
>And there is no one there to dry your tears,<br>I could hold you for a million years  
>To make you feel my love.<em>

Draco slid his hands up Hermione's back until he found the top of her dress' zipper; he slowly started to slide it down just in case Hermione decided she wasn't ready for this and protested. To his luck, she did no such thing so he continued to slide it down.

Just as Draco was unzipping her dress, Hermione unlocked her fingers, slid her hands back to Draco's chest and began to unbutton his shirt; once unbuttoned, she slid if off his shoulders to reveal a very toned and chiseled chest, Draco truly was an Adonis.

_I know you haven't made your mind up yet,  
>But I would never do you wrong.<br>I've known it from the moment that we met,  
>No doubt in my mind where you belong.<em>

Once her dress was unzipped, Draco also started to slowly slide it off her body; as he started to slide it down he was pleasantly surprised to find out that she had not worn a bra with that dress, only leaving, what he thought were the most perfect pair of breasts he'd ever seen.

This went on until they were both in just their undergarments, "you're so beautiful Hermione" whispered Draco as he bent down to bite and kiss her neck making her moan slightly in pleasure.

He took her hand and led her to the massive bed in the room, "are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

Hermione kissed him lightly before replying "would I be here standing in only my underwear if I wasn't?"

Draco chuckled before taking her face in his hands and kissing her softly as he slowly started to push her back onto the bed.

_I'd go hungry; I'd go black and blue,  
>I'd go crawling down the avenue.<br>No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do  
>To make you feel my love.<em>

_The storms are raging on the rolling sea  
>And on the highway of regret.<br>Though winds of change are blowing wild and free,  
>You ain't seen nothing like me yet.<em>

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true.  
>Nothing that I wouldn't do.<br>Go to the ends of the Earth for you,  
>To make you feel my love<br>To make you feel my love

As Adele's sweet song played on, Draco and Hermione eventually took off what little was left of their clothing and made love slowly.

Hours, and a MANY rounds, later, Hermione and Draco lay in the bed; limbs intertwined, staring into each other's eyes basking in their love.

"That was amazing" whispered Hermione.

"YOU'RE amazing" replied Draco kissing her softly.

Hermione wrapped her arms around him, deepened the kiss and the couple went at it, yet again, before finally succumbing to sleep wrapped in each other's arms.

* * *

><p>The next morning Hermione woke up with a smile plastered on her face, last night had been one of the best nights of her life, and it had been real, NOT a dream.<p>

She rolled over to kiss Draco good morning but he wasn't there, she was in bed alone; Oh no, had last night really been a dream?

She looked around her room and it was still the same room she remembered from last night; Okay so it HADN'T been a dream, but where was Draco? She go out of bed and wrapped herself in her favorite satin kimono-style robe and looked in her closet and bathroom but Draco wasn't there either; did he regret what happened and left before she woke up?

Suddenly her nostrils were filled with the smell of freshly brewed coffee; she slowly walked toward her kitchen and breathed a silent sigh of relief when she saw Draco, in nothing but his pants and socks, standing in her kitchen.

Draco heard a creak and turned around to find Hermione standing behind the breakfast bar, staring at him like if he was a mirage.

"Morning beautiful" he said as he poured each of them a cup of coffee.

"Morning" was all she replied before sitting on one of the stools behind the breakfast bar.

"Is something wrong Mione?"

Hermione hesitated before answering; he'd probably think she was weird and clingy and run out of her loft, never looking back if she told him the truth.

"Mione?" he asked again growing slightly worried; had he done something wrong? Did she regret what happened between them last night?

Hermione sighed before finally answering, "It's just…when I woke up and didn't find you, I thought you'd regretted last night and left."

Draco couldn't help but smile as he walked over to her and cupped her face in his hands, "Last night was probably the best night of my life, there's NO WAY I'd ever regret it" he said before kissing her.

Hermione blushed a bit, feeling embarrassed after thinking that Draco would just leave her in the middle of the night.

"It just that I thought I'd give you another surprise by preparing breakfast for the two of us" he continued.

Hermione looked over Draco's shoulder and found two plates with omelets, hash browns, bacon and sausage on them. She then looked over at her dining table and saw a beautiful arrangement of orchids (her favorite flowers) in the middle, a bowl of fresh berries and a stack of chocolate chip waffles on it.

"Draco" she said "you shouldn't have, this all so beautiful but really I wouldn't have a problem making breakfast"

Draco took her hands in his and kissed her fingers lightly, "But I wanted to do something special for the woman I loved"

Hermione smiled and lifted one of her hands to his cheek, "I love you so much Draco"

Draco grabbed her by the waist, lifted her off the chair and started twirling her around making her squeal with laughter.

"I love you too" he finally said as he stopped twirling her and put her down.

They shared a lovely breakfast together before taking a shower together (and again end up going at it).

After stepping out of the shower wrapped in fluffy white bath robes, Hermione's phone rang.

"Who is it?" asked Draco, getting dressed.

"It's Ginny" she said "She's probably gonna ask me if you're here with me"

"Hey Ginny" she said as she answered the call

"Hey Mione, have you seen Draco? He didn't come back to the hotel last night"

Hermione turned to Draco and mouthed "I told you so", making Draco laugh.

"Yea I have actually…he spent the night…with me"

"WHAT!" yelled Ginny, making Hermione pull the phone away from her ear and loud enough for Draco to hear and start laughing hysterically.

"TELL ME EVERYTHING" demanded Ginny.

"Ginny!" Hermione heard Blaise yell in the background "We have to get to the airport!"

"Airport?" asked Hermione "why are you heading to the airport? Are you already heading back to London?"

"No silly, we're going to pick up Harry and Luna"

"Oh" was all Hermione said.

"Actually" said Ginny "…why don't you and Draco come with us?"

"Umm…I don't know if that's such a good idea Ginny"

"What's not a good idea?" asked Draco now fully dressed.

Hermione put her hand over the phone's speaker as she answered "Ginny wants us to go with her and Blaise to the airport…to pick up Harry and Luna"

Draco just stared at Hermione, knowing that there was probably an ongoing war in her mind as she tried to decide if they should go or not.

"Whatever you decide I'll support" he said, earning him a smile from his girlfriend.

Hermione sighed as she took her hand off the phone's speaker "Alright" she told Ginny "We'll go"

Ginny squealed with happiness "great!" she said "we'll pick you and Draco up in about 10 minutes; I'll call you again when we're outside your building"

"Okay, see you in a bit" said Hermione before hanging up.

She looked at Draco who took her hands in his hands and gave them a squeeze, "you were gonna have to see him eventually, might as well get it over with now"

Hermione nodded "you're right" she said.

She let go of Draco's hands and walked toward her closet to get ready. A few minutes later she came out wearing her favorite pair of True Religion boot cut jeans, a dark taupe Bailey 44 Ruched Jersey Top and a pair of Valentino Mena Metallic Sling back Espadrille wedges. She finished off her look with a BACCARAT Romance Heart Pendant, and a light taupe Stella McCartney Chain-Strap hobo bag.

"Ready to go Love?" asked Draco "Ginny just texted me and said they were down the street."

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be" she said quietly.

Draco walked over to her and hugged her tightly "It will be alright love, I'll be with you the entire time"

Hermione hugged him back and kissed him on the cheek "thank you for being there for me Draco"

Draco smiled and kissed her forehead when the phone rang; It was Ginny, they were downstairs.

Hermione sighed, "Here goes nothing".

Draco took her hand, squeezed it and said "I'll be by your side the whole time"

Hermione squeezed it back and together they walked out to Blaise's rented Baltic Blue Range Rover Evoque.

"Hey Draco" greeted Blaise.

"Hey Blaise" replied Draco.

"Heyyyyy Hermione" greeted Ginny with mischievous smile on her face, winking at her best friend.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at her friend's behavior; she always knew what to do to make her laugh.

"You guy's ready to go?" asked Blaise to his passengers.

"Yup" responded Ginny and Draco.

Blaise looked in his rear view mirror at Hermione who had not yet responded; Hermione's eyes met with Blaise's and she simply nodded.

"Alright then, with no objections, we are off"

And just like that, the four of them were off toward DFW international airport to pick up Harry and Luna, not knowing that Ron would also be there.

* * *

><p><strong>Did you guys like it! I hope so, next chapter Harry and Hermione are finally reunited! Ron will see Draco with Hermione, and boy will he be pissed. don't forget to review! PS the song is "Make you feel my love" by Adele<strong>


	26. Reunion

**Here it is! The long awaited reunion of Harry and Hermione, there will definitely be more but it will be in the next chapter, this is mostly their reunion at the airport. There's also a bit of a twist in the story, nothing plot changing but you get more info as to why Ron "left" Isabella. I hope you like it! Oh and PS: Lillian, not at all, all constructive criticism is welcome :) **

* * *

><p>Hermione stared out the window as the blue Range Rover headed down Airport Fwy, she was so nervous about seeing Harry again. She was somewhat relieved that Harry already knew everything; at least she would not have to relive that pain yet again by repeating her story.<p>

Hermione turned to look at her boyfriend who was looking out the other window, what would Harry think of her relationship with Draco? Would he approve? Or would he end up helping Ron get her back? She prayed it was the former and not the latter.

Within the hour, the two couples arrived at DFW; Ginny went to check the flight schedule and found out that Harry's flight should be landing within the next 10 minutes.

Draco stood by Hermione's side the entire time; whenever he felt her stiffen or start to panic he rubbed her arms and whispered soothing things in her ear.

He didn't have to do this more than once…that is until they heard over the intercom that the flight from London was now landing.

Hermione froze and felt a panic attack coming on as she saw the first passengers coming out of the gate. She thought she was about to break down completely when she felt an arm wrap around her waist to keep her from bending at the knees.

She looked up and saw a pair of loving silver eyes looking at her, "Don't worry Mione," whispered Draco "I've got you"

She leaned into her boyfriend, never so thankful to have him by her side as she was now.

* * *

><p>Harry woke up 20 minutes before they were scheduled to land at DFW; he was so excited to Hermione after such a long time.<p>

"Harry"

"Huh?" he turned to face his girlfriend.

"Would you mind getting my bag out from the overhead compartment?"

"Not at all" he said, getting up and retrieving Luna's Tory Burch Karlya Printed Carry All Tote. It was so colorful and had patches of different patterns; it fit Luna's personality perfectly.

"Thank you" she said as Harry sat back down and fastened his seatbelt.

"We are now landing at DFW international airport" said a female voice over the plane's intercom.

Harry grabbed Luna's hand and squeezed it tightly, "Here we go" he said as he felt the plane begin to descend.

* * *

><p>Ron woke up feeling like he was falling; he opened his eyes quickly and looked out the window, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw buildings below.<p>

"We are now landing at DFW international airport" he heard a female voice say.

He immediately got excited; he was now THAT much closer to being reunited with his lovely Hermione.

He got out of his seat and took out his carry on suitcase from the overhead compartment; he settled back down in his seat, smiling as the plane started to descend.

* * *

><p>"Oh My God THERE HE IS!" exclaimed Ginny as she caught sight of a certain black haired wizard.<p>

Draco tightened his hold on Hermione as she stiffened when Ginny said she spotted Harry; "I'm right here Love" he said to her.

"Harry!" yelled Ginny as she ran to hug her best friend and ex-lover.

"Hey Ginny!" he said wrapping his arms around her.

"Luna!" yelled Ginny as she spotted the blonde walking up with her and Harry's suitcases; she promptly ran over to her and hugged her.

"Hey Ginny" replied Luna, caught off guard by the redhead's hug.

Harry greeted Blaise and turned to back to Ginny, where was Hermione? He had not noticed Draco and Hermione because of everyone getting off the plane and gathering their luggage.

He was about to ask Ginny if Hermione when he heard a barely audible "hello Harry".

Harry would recognize that voice anywhere; he slowly turned around and came face to face with his best friend since childhood…but why was she standing next to Draco Malfoy? And why did he have his hand around her waist?

"Hermione" he breathed out.

Hermione immediately ran toward Harry, leaving Draco's embrace, wrapped her arms around him and began to sob.

Harry immediately wrapped his arms around Hermione and buried his face in her curls as his eyes also began to water.

"I've missed you so much Mione" he said to her.

"I've missed you too Harry!" she sobbed out.

Ginny, Luna, Blaise and Draco stared at the two best friends with smiles on their faces; it was great to see them so happy after so long.

Harry pulled back and cupped her face in his hands and kissed her forehead, "It's so good to see you"

"I can't believe you're really here" she said, tears still running down her face.

The two friends hugged once more before Harry stepped back and finally asked, "So…what's going on with you and Malfoy?"

Hermione looked over at her boyfriend and motioned for him to come over; he quickly obliged and wrapped his arms around her lovingly.

"Oh my god" gasped out Harry "does this mean what I think it means?"

Hermione wiped the tears from her face and laughed, "Well if you're thinking that Draco and I are now together…then yes it does."

Harry just stood there staring at his best friend and Draco Malfoy; never in a million years would he have guessed that the Gryffindor Princess and the Slytherin Prince would end up together.

"Umm…wow" was all that Harry had to say, making Hermione laugh; she figured this would be the general reaction she'd get from most people when they found out.

Harry finally found his voice again and added "If you're happy Mione then I'll support you" he turned to look at Draco "and YOU, if you EVER hurt her in any way, there will be hell to pay."

Draco nodded and replied "No need to worry about that Potter, I have no intention of hurting the woman I love"

Hermione smiled and kissed Draco on the cheek, she was glad that her best friend approved of her new relationship.

The couple separated shortly only so Hermione could greet and hug her other friend, Luna Lovegood, who was also ecstatic to see her.

The three couples finally headed toward the exit and toward Blaise's rental, each hand in hand with the person they loved.

* * *

><p>Ron witnessed the reunion from a distance, Hermione had looked so gorgeous. He had to fight with himself from running over and hugging her, he couldn't wait until HE was reunited with her. Their reunion would be even more emotional and much more passionate than hers and Harry's, he was SURE of it.<p>

Well he was until he saw Draco "the amazing bouncing ferret" Malfoy walk over and put his arms around HIS Hermione. He was filled with rage when he saw him touching her, and grew even more enraged when he saw that she didn't push him away, like she was ENJOYING his touch.

He thought he might burst in flames with anger when HIS Hermione kissed that damn ferret! HOW COULD SHE! SHE WAS ONLY SUPPOSED TO LOVE HIM! AND WHY DIDN'T HARRY STOP HER? HOW COULD HE LET HER PUT HER LIPS ON THAT DISGUSTING EXCUSE FOR A MAN!

It had to be a mistake, he must have her under some sort of spell, the Hermione he knew would never be within five feet of Malfoy, let alone kiss him. Yes, that had to be it, she had to be under some sort of spell; he would lift the spell from her and she would despise Malfoy again and run back to him so they could finally be happy together.

He refreshed the spell on himself and silently followed the three couples.

He climbed into a nearby taxi and as soon as he saw Hermione's face in the window of a blue Range Rover Evoque he said to the driver "Follow that Range Rover"; the taxi driver didn't ask why or protest and simply followed orders, speeding off, following the blue Range Rover.

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><p>Half an hour later the Range Rover came to a stop in the underground parking garage of Hermione's building, "here we are" said Blaise.<p>

"And where exactly is 'here'?" asked Harry.

"Hermione's building" replied Blaise "by the way Hermione, are you sure you don't mind if I park in your spot?"

"Oh I don't mind at all Blaise" replied Hermione "my car is in the shop so my spot will be empty for some time."

"Seems like an odd place to live Hermione" replied Luna dreamily.

Hermione chuckled before she replied, "No, Luna, I don't live HERE this is just where the vehicles are parked, I live in a loft in the building connected to this parking garage."

"But why are we at your building Mione? I figured we'd go to our hotel to get settled in." asked Harry

"I cancelled your reservations" replied Hermione

Harry stared at his best friend, "Why?"

"Because…I have a guest room and we have entirely too much to catch up on"

Neither Harry nor Luna argued and simply smiled and nodded, it would be nice to stay with Hermione while they were in Dallas; it would certainly make catching up with her MUCH easier.

The three couples got out of the Range Rover, got Harry and Luna's luggage out of the back and headed up to Hermione's loft.

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><p>Ron's taxi stopped in front of The Joule hotel; in the Dallas traffic he'd unfortunately lost Blaise's Range Rover. He did know they were headed downtown, at least that narrowed down Ron's places to search; he figured he might as well get situated in his hotel room before starting to look for his Hermione.<p>

He paid the taxi driver, got his small suitcase from the trunk and headed inside.

"Reservation for Ronald Weasley" he told the receptionist.

Ron couldn't help but stare at the receptionist, she was quite the looker; as a matter of fact she resembled Isabella quite a bit.

Ron continued to stare at the receptionist until something finally clicked; "Isabella?" gasped Ron.

The receptionist looked up as she heard her name called, she could not believe her eyes; standing in front of her was her ex-lover, Ronald Weasley.

How she despised the man standing in front of her; two years after Hermione had caught the two of them in a VERY compromising position, she got to feel what Hermione felt.

***Flashback***

_Isabella was walking down the hallway toward her and Ron's flat, carrying a brand new Firebolt; it was her and Ron's two year anniversary and she'd wanted to give him something special._

_She had to admit, she was slightly disappointed that in those two years Ronald had not proposed to her but she always dismissed it; she figured he would do it eventually._

_It was past five in the afternoon and she knew Ron would not be home yet, she took this as the perfect opportunity to set up the romantic dinner she had planned and to hide Ron's present._

_She opened the door and saw Ron's jeans thrown on the floor along with his boxers. Isabella thought it was weird but didn't think twice about it, she hadn't been in the flat all day so maybe Ron had come home for lunch at took a shower; he wasn't really known for cleanliness._

_She left the broom next to the bookcase before heading to the kitchen to start on the romantic dinner when she heard a loud moan._

"_Oh God, Ron!" moaned a shrill female voice_

_Isabella turned and headed toward the noise which happened to be in her and Ron's bedroom; the door was slightly cracked opened so she peered in and bit her tongue to keep from screaming at what she saw._

_There was her boyfriend, the man she loved and someday hoped to marry, going down on Lavender Brown, well known slag._

_She was about to burst in and yell at him but she got a better idea; she went and got the brand new broom. Firebolt in hand she burst through the door making Ron jump and fall just like he did when Hermione walked in on them._

"_B-Bella, what are you doing home?" asked Ron_

"_Oh, is THIS the infamous Isabella?" asked Lavender_

"_Huh, I don't know what you saw in her won won, she looks like such a slag" she added with a smug look on her face_

_Isabella was not one to take insults, especially not from Lavender "fuck me, I'm easy" Brown._

_She let her fury take over her and began attacking Lavender with the Firebolt._

"_YOU CRAZY BITCH!" yelled out Lavender after Isabella hit her repeatedly with the broom; she quickly gathered her belongings and ran out of the flat, completely naked._

_She then turned her fury on Ronald who was still on the floor cowering after seeing her attack Lavender._

"_Bella…Love…"_

"_DON'T YOU BELLA ME, YOU SNIVELLING LITTLE RAT!" yelled Isabella gripping the Firebolt, stepping closer to Ron._

"_She means nothing to me, I love YOU" he pleaded_

_This meant nothing to Isabella; she would NOT let an infidelity pass, especially since their relationship had been born through one. She dropped the broom and quickly drew her wand, pointed it at Ron and yelled __**Incarcerous,**__ binding Ron to one of the bed's corner posts._

_She bent over to speak to her FORMER lover, "Listen to me, and listen good Ronald, I am not one to be made a fool of. We may not be married or even engaged but I will be taking half of everything that is yours, INCLUDING this flat…actually no, you will give me enough money to buy a NEW flat, this one is much too…TAINTED." she said with disgust "You will NEVER try to seek me out or think about not complying with my demands because if you do, I will go to the media and your family and explain to them in GREAT detail exactly what you did to Hermione Granger to make her break off your engagement; do I make myself clear?"_

_Ron simply whimpered and nodded, he'd never seen Isabella this mad but upon witnessing her fury, knew better than to try and defy her._

_Isabella smirked and whispered "I knew you'd agree with me…love", drawing out the last word as she ran a finger down the side of his face._

_She promptly stood up to leave and started to walk out of the room._

"_Wait! Are you just going to leave me here?"_

_Isabella turned to Ron and flashed him a sickly sweet smile "Don't worry darling, it will wear off in a matter of hours. I will be sending you an owl later explaining again the details of our arrangement, and I will expect a reply no later than noon tomorrow, is that understood?"_

_Ron simply nodded and listened to Isabella's heels click down the hallway and the door slam shut as she left, never looking back._

_For a year and a half after that incident, Isabella lived comfortably in the flat she bought with Ronald's money but quickly found herself growing bored with London and sought a fresh start. She moved from London to New York City where she lived for a few months and while she loved the fashion and shopping, she wanted to live in a city but not one as busy as New York City; one month ago, she arrived in Dallas, TX._

***End Flashback***

Isabella was brought back to reality; she looked at the redhead and glared at him.

"It's…good to see you, you look great" whispered Ron.

Isabella simply snorted and slammed down his hotel room key, "here you are, The Joule Loft" she said coldly.

Ron meekly took hotel room key and headed toward the elevator, not daring to look at Isabella knowing that the only thing he would find was anger and hatred.

While in the elevator he momentarily forgot all about Hermione but as soon as he was away from Isabella, Hermione consumed his thoughts again.

How would he find her? He had to be discrete so as not to be caught by Harry or Ginny knowing that they would keep him from her, no, he had to get her alone so he could lift the spell Malfoy had put on her and take her away with him so they could be together.

All this would have to wait until tomorrow, or at least until after he got over his jet lag; as soon as he got to his room, he plopped down on the bed and immediately fell asleep, dreaming of Hermione.

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><p><strong>:D what did you think? I know me throwing Isabella into the story again seems random but it just sort of came up as I was typing, I have an idea as to how she'll fit into the rest so calm down, her presence will actually be of use in the story. Don't forget to review! :D<strong>


	27. Plush

**Sorry I haven't updated in a few days but I had a bit of writers block and I didn't want to go back to just writing and posting 900 word chapters so I kept working on this until I thought it had a suitable length. I hope you all like it :) and I've added more pictures to my photobucket album for this story, describing the outfits and what I think Hermione's loft and guest room look like even though I only describe her guest room.**

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><p>Harry and Luna's jaws dropped when they entered Hermione's loft, it was so gorgeous; Ginny and Blaise chuckled at seeing the couple's faces remembering their own reactions the first time they walked into the loft.<p>

Hermione also chuckled a bit at her friends' reactions, "come on Harry, Luna, I'll show you to the guest room."

Harry and Luna followed Hermione with their luggage rolling behind them, when they reached the guest room their jaws dropped even further, if that was even possible. It was so simple yet so elegant; white walls with black furniture, a black queen sized platform bed with white bedding, a black bench/trunk at the foot of the bed, and huge glass sliding doors with a sheer black curtain behind it that lead into the walk in closet.

"Hermione, are you sure you want us staying here?" asked Harry after looking around the room, mouth agape.

Hermione smiled, "Of course I do Harry, I haven't seen you or Luna in what feels like forever, I told you there's no better way to catch up than you two staying with me."

"This is very lovely Hermione, thank you for letting us stay here" said Luna sweetly

"Don't mention it Luna, I'll leave you two to get settled" said Hermione as she walked back out into the living room.

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><p>Isabella sighed as she sat behind the desk in The Joule lobby; never in a million years would she have guessed that she'd run into Ron in Dallas. Hell, one of the main reasons she left London was to make sure she'd never see his face again.<p>

How had she allowed her life to get like this? She'd graduated at the top of her class at Beauxbatons, she had a bright future and she threw it all away for what, a good fuck who later fucked her over? She felt her world start to crumble a bit; why did he have to come back into her life now? Her life finally seemed to be heading in the right direction, she had her own loft (which she bought with her own money thank you very much), a decent job, she was seeing a new man (who was definitely NOT engaged) and she did NOT need Ronald Fucking Weasley to come back into her life to remind her how she'd messed up before.

She continued to work until her shift was over, after which she practically ran out of the lobby, constantly looking around making sure she didn't see Ron and vice versa.

As she waited impatiently in front of the hotel for the valet to bring her car around, she couldn't help but wonder what Ron's reasons for being in Dallas were, but she ended up deciding that as long as it did not affect or involve her in anyway then she frankly didn't give a fuck.

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><p>After getting settled in their room, Luna and Harry decided to take a quick nap that ended up lasting several hours; but when they woke up, they felt more refreshed than ever.<p>

The couple walked out into the living room to find it empty, where was everyone?

"Mione?" shouted Harry "Is anyone here?"

"In here Harry" came Hermione's voice from what Harry gathered was her bedroom.

Harry and Luna walked into Hermione's room to find her and Ginny in fluffy white bathrobes staring at clothes on Hermione's bed.

"What's going on?" asked Harry "Where are Draco and Blaise" then laughed slightly to himself.

"What's so funny Harry?" asked Ginny

Harry stopped laughing and smiled at his friend before answering "Sorry Gin, it's just that it still feels weird calling them 'Draco and Blaise' rather than 'Malfoy and Zabini' and I'm DEFINITELY not used to asking for their whereabouts"

Ginny and Hermione turned to Harry and also laughed a bit, "we know the feeling Harry, who would have thought that the two of us" she gestured to Hermione and herself "would have fallen in love with two Slytherins"

"Definitely not I" said Harry "but then again, I never thought I would end up falling in love with my darling Luna either." He pulled Luna close to him and kissed her softly on the cheek making her smile.

"But back to my previous questions, what is going on and where are Blaise and Draco"

This time Hermione answered, "Oh right, they went back to their hotel room to change."

"Change…what for?"

"We're going out!" replied Ginny excitedly.

Before Harry or Luna could ask where, Hermione interjected "I'm taking you all too Plush, my favorite night club here in Downtown."

"Have fun" replied Luna smiling

Hermione and Ginny looked at themselves oddly before Hermione asked, "What are you talking about Luna, you and Harry are coming with us."

"Um…it's just that…I don't really have any appropriate clothes to wear to a night club" replied Luna shyly, starting to blush.

Hermione smiled warmly at his best friend's girlfriend, "Oh Luna, that's no problem, I'll let you borrow something of mine just like Ginny, pick out anything you like, and if it doesn't fit, I can magically tailor it to fit you."

Luna was about to decline her generous offer but was yet again interrupted, "and I will not take no for an answer" said Hermione in a stern voice but with a smiling face.

Luna, defeated, simply nodded as Ginny dragged her into Hermione's closet to look through her massive clothes and shoes collection.

Hermione now turned to her best friend and said teasingly, "Unfortunately Harry, I don't think anything of mine will fit you, no matter how much I magically alter it."

Harry laughed at his friend," No worries Mione, I'm sure I can piece an outfit together with the clothes I've brought"

"Excellent" said Hermione "now if you'd be so kind as to leave us girls to get ready for tonight"

Harry chuckled and left Hermione's bedroom, heading towards his own to piece together a suitable outfit and take a shower.

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><p>Ron rolled over in bed and fell on the floor, waking himself up.<p>

"What the-"he started saying and looked around his room startled, he immediately saw his small suitcase and remembered he was in his hotel room in Dallas.

He shook his head so as to wake himself even more, he looked at the digital clock on the nightstand next to the bed, it read 8:30pm. "God, how long have I been out?" he thought to himself. However long he may have been out, Ron decided that it had been long enough to warrant a long shower.

He plopped his suitcase on top of his bed, opened it and pulled out dark jeans, a black and white stripped button up shirt, black chucks and headed toward the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later Ron stepped out of his hotel room feeling refreshed and headed down to the Lobby, not really sure where he was going.

After wandering around for a bit, Ron ended up at the PM nightlife lounge which was part of the hotel; he walked up to the bar, sat down and ordered a Jameson on the rocks. He sat there for a while, people watching and also thinking about how he could get close to Hermione without getting noticed when a dark haired beauty sat down beside him and ordered herself an AMF. Ron could not stop staring at her and tried to strike up a conversation with the beautiful woman, lucky for him, she reciprocated.

A few minutes and a few drinks later, the two walked out of the hotel and Ron allowed himself to be led to a nightclub, Plush, he believed it was called.

* * *

><p>Hermione, Luna and Ginny walked out of Hermione's bedroom completely glammed up for their night out.<p>

"Damn" said Harry in unison with Blaise and Draco who had just arrived from their hotel.

In front of them stood their girlfriends, looking more gorgeous than ever, if that was even possible.

Luna stood in a pair of black satin peep toe platform Christian Louboutin pumps with a bow on top, and an Alice + Olivia noir one shoulder sequin dress that hugged her figure beautifully and made her fair skin glow, her soft blond hair in soft waves that fell below her shoulders.

Harry walked over to his girlfriend and pulled her in for a kiss, "you look amazing" he whispered.

Next it was Blaise's turn to be floored; Ginny stood smiling in blue, one shoulder David Meister sequin spotlight dress, sheer black nylons and black, suede Christian Louboutin spiked ankle booties. Blaise was at a loss for words, the dress looked stunning on her, the blue looked great against her skin and made her red hair POP.

Draco just stood there with his mouth open, staring at Hermione, he always, well since fourth year anyways, thought she was beautiful but tonight she was just…wow. She was wearing a gorgeous dress with textured sequin fabric all along the body of the dress and a beautiful trim of pleated lace, with a one shoulder strap that had fringed beading connecting to a unique open back. She paired it with a pair of Louboutin strappy, glitter covered leather heels.

Hermione looked at Draco's shocked face and chuckled, "does it look THAT bad?" she asked, finally making Draco focus again.

"N-no, quite the contrary, you clean up good Granger" he said, flashing his signature smirk.

"Nice to know you approve Malfoy" she said also smirking.

He walked over to her and pulled her hard against him, "Oh I MORE than approve" he said nuzzling her neck.

"Um…Hello…we're still here" interrupted Ginny.

Draco and Hermione turned to look at their friends and laughed lightly, "right, are you all ready?" asked Hermione.

Everyone nodded eagerly and Hermione simply added, "Plush here we come."

The three couples stepped out into the cool September night and headed toward Plush nightclub.

* * *

><p>They arrived outside of the nightclub and there was already a long line to get it, Luna, never having been to Plush (or any muggle nightclub for that matter) got in line behind a tall brunette and her friends.<p>

"Luna, what are you doing?" asked Hermione

"Waiting in line" replied Luna

Hermione simply chuckled, "There's no need for you to wait in line Luna, I know the bouncer and I also put us on the VIP list for tonight."

"Oh" replied Luna and followed everyone to the entrance of the club that was being guarded by a tall, muscular man with tan skin, jet black hair and honey colored eyes dressed in all black.

"Hey Alec" said Hermione cheerfully.

"Hey Hermione you look great!" he greeted with equal cheerfulness as he pulled her into a hug, making Draco shoot daggers at the man with his eyes, "haven't seen you here in a while."

Hermione hugged him back and pulled back before answering, "I know, I've been busy with work, but I have the night off and I decided to show my friends here a typical night on the town here in Dallas"

Alec looked at the group behind his friend and smiled, "I think I can help with that" he said opening the door leading to the VIP area for Hermione and her friends.

"Thanks Alec!" she shouted as she and her friends walked in.

Blaise, Ginny, Harry, Luna and Draco's jaw dropped when they made inside; it was absolute pandemonium inside, purple lights illuminating the walls of the dark club, loud music playing and fog coming from the dance floor.

"Come on" yelled Hermione over the music "the VIP area is the way". She led her friends up a few flights of stairs until they reached the top level of the club that had black leather booths all over and a bar at the very back. They could still hear the loud music obviously but it wasn't pounding in their ears so they could talk without having to scream their heads off.

"This place looks amazing Mione" said Ginny, who was apparently mesmerized by the beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

"I knew you'd like it" replied Hermione smiling, she was glad her friends were liking her city so far and was glad she'd been able to take them out to one of her favorite spots.

"Come on!" shouted Ginny who stood up and started dragging Blaise toward the bar "I need a drink!"

The couples all got themselves drinks and returned to their booth; Hermione had barely started enjoying her Manhattan when "Mr. Saxo Beat" by Alexandra Stan came on and blasted through the club.

"OH MY GOD! I LOVE THIS SONG!" exclaimed Ginny who promptly snatched Hermione's drink from her hand, set it down and dragged her down onto the dance floor.

Not ones to be left behind, Blaise and Draco quickly followed their girlfriends, they asked Harry and Luna if they were going to come along but Luna said she'd prefer to finish her drink and spend some time with Harry before heading down.

Blaise and Draco trekked through the mass of people until they reached the middle of the dance floor where they found their girlfriends dancing with each other, drawing hungry looks from guys around them.

Growing tired of the lustful looks Hermione and Ginny were getting, Draco and Blaise got in between them and started dancing with them, putting an end to the hungry looks that were shot their way.

* * *

><p>Ron glared at the two couples from his secluded seating area nestled next to the DJ's area, HOW DARE HERMIONE DANCE SO PROVACITAVELY WITH A FUCKING DEATH EATER? HOW COULD HIS SISTER DO THE SAME! THAT SHOULD BE HIM DANCING WITH HERMIONE, NOT DRACO SODDING MALFOY.<p>

He had half a mind to go over there right now and beat both of those fucking death eaters to death, but he didn't; too many people and if he showed himself, Ginny would tell Harry and they'd take Hermione away from him and he could not allow that.

He just watched the couples trying to keep his anger in check and drank his whiskey on the rocks as the skirt that brought him here droned on and on about something or other, he'd blocked her out about five minutes after she'd started talking.

"Soon" he thought as a sinister smirk appeared on his face "soon I'll have Hermione back and we can finally be together."

* * *

><p>After dancing back to back to "Mr. Saxo beat", "Blow" by Kesha, and "You make me feel…" by Cobra Starship, Draco, Hermione, Ginny and Blaise headed back up to their VIP area to find Harry and Luna engaged in a very heated make out session.<p>

"AHEM" said Ginny making both Harry and Luna jump apart "Enjoying ourselves are we?" she teased, making both of them blush.

Hermione and Ginny sat down next to Luna as Draco, Blaise and Harry went to the bar to get them another drink.

They all started to reminisce of their days at Hogwarts and how they NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS could have predicted they would be dating their boyfriends now when Hermione heard her name being called, or rather shouted. She looked around until she saw her other best friend, Santi, coming up the stairs with his boyfriend Devin.

"Oh my god Mione!" shouted Santi when he saw her "I don't see you for two days and you turn into a sex goddess!"

Hermione laughed as she hugged her Santi and Devin to greet them.

"And who else do we have here?" he asked looking at Luna.

"Oh right, where are my manners? Santi, this is Luna Lovegood. Luna, this is my best friend here in Dallas, Santiago, Santi, Bergeron and his boyfriend, Devin Phelps"

Luna smiled at the two men and extended her hand as she greeted them, "It's very nice to meet you both"

Just then, Draco and Blaise came back from the bar carrying drinks.

"Hey Santi", greeted Blaise and Draco as they put down the drinks on the table.

"Hey Blaise, Draco, meet my boyfriend Devin. Devin this is Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy, friends of Hermione from England" replied Santi giving them a smile

"Hello, it's nice to meet you" said Devin with a smile as he shook their hands.

"What's going on?" came a voice from behind Draco and Blaise; they all turned to find Harry carrying his and Luna's drinks with a perplexed look on his face.

Hermione pulled him in front of Draco and Blaise, took his drinks and set them down before excitedly saying "Harry, this is my friend Santi Bergeron. Santi…" she looked at her friend who already had a star struck expression on his face "this is my best friend Harry…Harry Potter."

Santi nearly fainted when Hermione said "Harry Potter"; he stared agape at the wizarding world's savior until Devin lightly elbowed him in the side, bringing him back to reality.

"Uh…i-it's…n-nice…t-to…m-meet…y-you H-harry" he stammered out making Hermione laugh lightly to herself.

Harry looked at the man with an amused look before shaking his hand; after four years he still wasn't used to people being so star struck when meeting him.

"It's nice to meet you as well Santi, and may I say thank you for looking out for Mione in my place."

"Y-you're w-welcome" he said making Hermione laugh again.

Devin rolled his eyes at his boyfriend and also shook Harry's hand; he dragged Santi off to their own VIP booth so he could calm down after meeting Harry "the-boy-who-lived" Potter.

Hermione couldn't contain her laughter anymore and burst out laughing when Santi and Devin finally left.

"Um…okay…what was that about?" asked Harry, still clearly confused.

Hermione stopped laughing enough to explain that Santi was also a wizard and a HUGE fan of his, making Harry chuckle.

The six of them finished off their second round of drinks and continued to chat until "I like how it feels" by Enrique Iglesias featuring Pitbull came on and the girls, including Luna this time, dragged their boyfriends down onto the dance floor.

The night went on like this and they were even joined by Santi and Devin at some point on the dance floor, after Santi got over meeting Harry, and the eight of them had an amazing night, forgetting all of their worries and just focusing on the moment at hand, feeling like nothing could bring them down, never noticing the daggers being shot at them by a certain ginger sitting in a corner of the club.

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><p><strong>Did you like it? I hope so, oh yea I also put up pictures of the Plush VIP area,the area where Ron is sitting at the club and the bar inside the hotel where he meets the girl he's with. Don't forget to review!<strong>


	28. Writer's block is a bitch not new ch

**Okay I'm sorry to say this guys but I have THE WORST CASE of writer's block right now. Hence the reason I haven't posted in three days. And I want to say I'm getting over it and a new chapter will be up tomorrow but with the way things are going, I have no idea when I'll be able to post a new chapter. Usually I'll just read through my story again and read the last chapter I've written over and over again and then I'll get an idea but I've been doing this ever since I posted the last chapter and…NOTHING. I keep staring at the last chapter...I actually have like 700 words written for a next chapter but I just keep thinking "how is this relevant to the story? There's no possible way to end this chapter." I'm not happy with it AT ALL; I think I'm just going to delete what I have and start the chapter again from scratch. I'm battling between Ron confronting them at the club or your know just SOMETHING happening at the club before they leave, have them leave the club drunk and Ron follows them and finds out where Hermione lives, have them all go to their own places after the club but then Blaise, Draco and Ginny finding out Ron is their hotel. SEE I have ideas but I have NO IDEA which one to do and even when I do pick one, it will take me HOURS to actually get started on it. :/ So I'm sorry if you don't get a new chapter email for my story for a while, cause until I get over this writer's block I obviously won't be able to write anything...and actually be happy enough with it to post it.**


	29. Bad Feeling

**Hey guys! So I've finally gotten over my writer's block (for now) and I was able to write this chapter which I'm somewhat happy with but considering I haven't posted in like a week (I've lost track of time) I think this will do. thank you so much for all your wonderful ideas and thanks for understanding as well :) I hope you guys like what I came up with.**

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><p>Around 2am the three couples burst out of the club laughing and slightly stumbling, onto the sidewalk.<p>

"That was so much fun!" exclaimed Ginny "we should do this more often"

Hermione laughed, she was so glad her friends had enjoyed themselves.

They stood outside the club for a bit before separating, Ginny and Blaise were going back to their hotel so Draco along with Harry and Luna, left with Hermione back to her loft.

After the couples separated, a certain ginger also emerged from the night club; he didn't see Ginny and Blaise head toward their (and his) hotel, he only looked out for Hermione so as soon as he spotted the brunette beauty in her gold dress heading down the street with Draco, Harry and Luna, he again cast a disillusion spell on himself and followed after them.

As they neared near building, Hermione suddenly felt uneasy; she suddenly stopped and looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary so she quickly dismissed the feeling and decided that all the alcohol she had was finally getting to her.

* * *

><p>Ron peeked around the corner and once Hermione had finally turned back around, he came out and started following them again; he may have cast a spell on himself but one could never be too careful.<p>

He had originally thought to follow them all the way into the building and to Hermione's actual loft but decided against it when he saw Harry with her; he figured he could take on Malfoy (**A/N yeah right**) but he knew that he could not take Harry on, they were once as close as brothers and not to mention that Harry was the ministry's most skilled Auror. No, he would not follow them all the way inside but just knowing where she lived would be enough…for now.

* * *

><p>Again as they reached the front entrance of her building, Hermione's uneasy feeling came back again. She stopped and looked around again but didn't find anything out of the ordinary this time either.<p>

"Hermione?"

Hermione turned around and saw Draco, Harry and Luna standing by the revolving door of her building staring at her with a look of worry upon their faces.

"Are you alright love? Are you looking for someone?" asked Draco.

She gave him a weak smile, "no, it's just…ever since we left the club, I've had this uneasy feeling, like if someone was following us. But I've looked around twice since we've left but there seems to be nothing out of the ordinary."

Draco walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, "Don't worry about it, if there is something amiss, Harry and I will take care of it."

"Thanks Draco, but it's probably just the alcohol getting to me or something; I'm sure there's nothing to worry about." She said as she reached her hand to his cheek, smiling.

"If you're sure…"he said.

"I'm sure" she replied although she didn't really believe it herself.

She walked forward and along with Harry and Luna entered her building through the revolving door; Draco lingered outside for a minute or two and also looked around as if trying to spot something, anything, that might seem out of place and give them reason to panic; but he found nothing. He let out a sigh of relief and also went through the revolving door to join Hermione, Harry and Luna inside.

Ron once again came out from hiding, this time behind a concrete pillar of the building's parking garage; he wouldn't push his luck further by going inside, at least he now knew where she lived and for now that was enough. He lifted the spell and slowly made his way back to The Joule hotel, happy with his progress so far.

That night all three couples went to sleep peacefully, completely oblivious to the fact that a certain ginger was up in his hotel room, not too far from one of the three couples, concocting a plan to get to Hermione and take her far away.

* * *

><p>The next morning Hermione awoke with her body intertwined with Draco's but she couldn't even enjoy that because she had a massive headache.<p>

"Damn cocktails" she muttered to herself.

She checked her clock and found that it was only 8am, she'd gotten less than six hours sleep, normally she'd just go back to sleep but now that she'd felt the force of her hangover, she might as well get up now because there was no way she'd be able to go back to sleep.

She started to untangle herself from Draco and slowly made her way out of bed; she grabbed her cell from the bedside table and a small vial of Pepper Up potion from the table's small drawer and swallowed the potion before heading toward her closet to get dressed.

As she was looking for what to wear, she felt her phone vibrate, it was a text from Santi asking if she wanted to go out and get some Starbucks; she thought about it for a few minutes before accepting, they would go to the closest Starbucks instead of their favorite one on Ross St and they'd have their coffee on their building's rooftop pool/green area so she could quickly come back to her own place if anyone woke up and found her missing.

She dressed quickly, settling on gray jeans, her favorite Victoria's Secret Dallas Cowboys long sleeve tee, navy TOMS, and a thin knit gray scarf. She tiptoed to the door, stopped by the table near the front door and grabbed her infinity snake ring and juicy couture hobo bag before finally slipping out without waking anyone. Once outside her door, she closed and locked the door ever so slowly even though she was sure everyone was still asleep.

She slowly turned around and almost screamed when she saw that Santi was already standing outside behind her.

"Good morning to you too" said Santi laughing after seeing Hermione jump at the sight of him.

"Sorry Santi, it's just that Draco, Harry and Luna are still asleep and I snuck out without any of them noticing."

"I know the feeling" started Santi, "Devin and I didn't get back until 3am and the only reason I'm up now is because I had a hangover."

Hermione laughed; she knew there was a reason they were best friends.

They took off together and headed down Main St toward the nearest Starbucks.

* * *

><p>Half an hour after Hermione left Draco was woken up by his loud and very annoying, ringing cell phone. He was lying face down in bed and groaned into his pillow as he reached over to the table on his side where his phone rested.<p>

"Hello?" he groaned out

"Draco!" said a frantic Ginny

Her tone of voice immediately woke Draco up, "Ginny? What's wrong? Is Blaise alright? Are you alright?"

"We're both fine Draco" she replied

"Then what's wrong? You sound extremely worried."

"Where's Hermione?" she asked

"Hermione?" he looked over and saw the bed empty next to him, "um I don't know, she's not in bed next to me, maybe she's in the kitchen." He replied

Ginny swore before saying quickly "Look for her and MAKE sure she's there"

Draco decided to act first and ask later, he got up and looked in the closet and bathroom but found nothing. He ran out of the room, into the living room and found Harry and Luna drinking coffee on the couch, but no Hermione.

"Have either of you seen Hermione?" asked Draco. Both of them shook their heads no and Harry immediately asked "Why?" after sensing Draco's unease.

Draco didn't answer; he just put his phone on speaker and told Ginny that Hermione was not in the loft.

"Shit" said Ginny.

"What happened Ginny? Why is it so important that Hermione be here?"

Ginny hesitated before answering "…Ron is in Dallas."

Draco froze for a bit but then grew confused, why did it matter that Ron was in Dallas? Then he noticed Harry and Luna's eyes grow wide, what did they know that he didn't?

He was about to speak when Harry interrupted him, "How do you know?" he asked.

"Blaise and I went down to the Charlie Palmer restaurant here in the hotel for breakfast; we sat down at a booth near the windows, we began eating when Blaise looked like he was about to choke on his coffee. I asked what was wrong and he told me to turn around, I looked behind me and I saw Ron sitting outside in the restaurant's patio area drinking coffee and reading the Daily Prophet."

"And you're SURE it was Ron you saw" asked Harry.

Ginny scoffed "Harry, please, I think I would be able to recognize my own brother."

"Excuse me, but can someone explain to me why it's such a bloody big deal if the weasel is in town?" asked Draco

"Harry, I'll leave you to take this one…anyways, I have to go, PLEASE call me if Hermione turns up" said Ginny before hanging up.

Harry nodded to himself and told Draco about Ron's surprise visits to him back in London and how he'd wanted his help to get Hermione back.

Had it been anyone else but the weasel, Draco would care less if Hermione's ex fiancé wanted her back because she would just reject him and that would be that; unfortunately, her ex fiancé WAS the weasel and if his temper was anything like Ginny's, he wouldn't take rejection very well…or at all.

About an hour and a half later, Harry and Draco were still pacing in the living room and Luna was on her 4th cup of coffee, when they heard the locks turn on the front door.

* * *

><p>Hermione and Santi had a great time just sipping their coffee and catching up. After they got their coffee from Starbucks, they headed back to their building but instead of heading back to Santi's or Hermione's loft, they went all the way up to the roof and just sat on loungers in front of the pool talking.<p>

Hermione told Santi that she was glad that Harry and Ginny finally knew everything and that she was now officially Draco Malfoy's girlfriend, which made him tease her endlessly. Santi told her that he'd finally asked Devin to move in with him and he said yes so he was going to be moving in sometime next week. Hermione congratulated him and said she was glad that he and Devin were doing so well.

They continued to catch up until Hermione realized that it was now 10am and that her guest were probably waking up or already up so she and Santi headed back down to their floor. They said goodbye to each other and agreed to see each other again later that night before she went on to perform at the House of Blues.

She unlocked her door and walked into her living room and found that her guests were already awake and that Harry and Draco were glaring at her…Hard.

"what's going on?" she asked slowly.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" shouted Draco and Harry.

Hermione was taken aback at the anger in their voice, "Um, I went out for coffee with Santi. You all were still asleep and I hadn't spent any time alone with him in a while so we went to get Starbucks" she answered slowly.

"It took you an hour and a half to get coffee?" asked Draco still miffed.

"No" she replied "after we got our coffee we came back to the building and had our coffee on the roof."

Draco and Harry breathed a sigh of relief, which Hermione thought was a bit odd.

"Guys…"she started "what's wrong? Why were you so worried about where I was?"

Harry and Draco looked at each other before Harry threw his hands up and went to go sit down on the couch next to Luna.

Draco sighed, walked over to Hermione grabbed her hand and led her back to the couch where he sat her down.

"Okay, you guys are scaring me a bit, what happened?" she immideately thought the worst "Did something happen to Ginny? To Blaise?"

Draco shook his head, "OH GOD, did something happen to my parents?" she asked frantically.

"Calm down love, nothing happened to your parents."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief "okay so if everyone's okay, then why so serious?"

"Umm…I don't know how quite to say this…"started Draco

"Just tell me what's wrong"

Draco was about to answer when Luna spoke "Ron is here in Dallas"

Hermione's eyes grew wide and her palms became sweaty, she suddenly felt like there was no air around her.

"What?" she gasped out "how do you know?"

"Ginny called and told us, apparently he's also staying at the Joule" replied Draco softly so as not to alarm her more than he already had.

She started to hyperventilate and Draco immediately pulled her close to him and rubbed her back while whispering soothing words, hoping to calm her down.

A few minutes later, Hermione was calm again but she was just staring blankly into her fireplace, letting the fact that Ron was in the same city as her, set in.

Draco took the time to call Ginny and tell her that Hermione had come home and why she had been missing in the first place which calmed Ginny down but she still insisted on going to check on her.

Not even five minutes after hanging up, Ginny was knocking on the front door; Draco opened the door and Ginny rushed inside, she found Hermione lying on her bed hugging a body pillow, staring blankly out her window.

Ginny walked over and sat down on the bed next to her.

"Is it true?" asked Hermione, her voice barely above a whisper.

Ginny sighed "I'm sorry Mione but it's true."

Hermione simply hugged her body pillow tighter; Ginny tried to talk to her and make her feel better but nothing seemed to work so after half an hour she gave up.

Everyone took a turn at going into her bedroom and trying to get her to talk but none were successful.

Hours passed, Ginny and Blaise left, and Hermione still didn't come out.

As the clock struck 8pm, Draco was starting to think that Hermione was never going to come out when he heard her door open.

His jaw dropped when he saw her, she was no longer wearing her Dallas cowboys long sleeve, jeans and TOMS. She was now wearing dark skinny jeans, a silver sequined tank top; white Manolo Blahnik swan embellished satin pumps, a black heart locket necklace, a silver cuff bracelet on her right arm and her infinity snake ring on her left hand.

Even her makeup was flawless, she had smoky sliver eye shadow, red glazed lips and even had the British flag painted on her nails. You couldn't even tell that she'd had a mini break down earlier that day.

"Um…wow. Hermione you look great" said Draco.

"thanks" she replied.

"But why are you dressed up? I don't think us going out clubbing again is such a good idea considering Ron is so close."

Hermione winced at the mention of Ron, "I actually agree with you but I'm not dressed up to go clubbing, don't you remember I have a job? I'm going to the House of Blues."

Draco stared at her for a bit before saying "Are you so sure it's safe for you to leave?"

Hermione huffed "Draco please, I'm not going to stay cooped up in here, afraid to step outside just because Ronald Weasley is here. Besides, I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself."

Draco was about to protest again but Hermione interrupted, "Stop. Nothing you say is going to make me change my mind, I'm going to sing and that's that. So either go shower and get dressed to go with me or I'll go alone" she said to him before turning to look at Harry and Luna "the same goes for the both of you."

The three of them simply nodded, she could be just as stubborn as Ginny when she wanted to so there was no point in arguing further. They all got up and went to shower; Draco had brought an extra change of close the last night, before they left for the club since he had no intention of going back to the Joule with Blaise and Ginny afterwards.

As they were all getting ready, Hermione called Ginny basically had the exact same argument with her that she did with Draco; and just like Draco, Ginny eventually relented and said that she and Blaise would be over in a few minutes.

Half an hour later, they were all dressed and ready so they headed out to the House of Blues, the guys on high alert and the girls staying close to Hermione. Hermione wanted to tell them to back off but in all honesty, she felt safer this way, she'd forced herself to push Ron out of her mind as she got ready but she was definitely worried that he might show up out of nowhere.

She wasn't far from the truth; Ron had been at the bar of the PM nightlife lounge when he saw Ginny and Blaise leave the hotel, he paid his bill and quickly followed them. He saw them heading into Hermione's building so he hid once again behind a pillar of the building's garage and waited until he saw the group come out.

As the group emerged from the building, he disillusioned himself again and followed them from a distance to their destination.

The group made it to the House of Blues without noticing anything "out of the ordinary" and were convinced that there was no way Ron knew that Hermione sang here so they all breathed a sigh of relief as they entered the building and sat down at a booth. They laughed, drank a bit and ate for another half hour until it was time for Hermione to head to her room to prepare. Draco insisted that she have a bodyguard stand outside her dressing room and only allow them and Santi to enter, Hermione thought this was a bit excessive but agreed. Luckily, her friend Alec was there that night and agreed to stand outside to make sure no one "suspicious" went near her.

Ron sat watching from a private booth at the back of the room, he didn't understand why Hermione was going back stage and had planned on following her but after seeing the muscular man follow her, he decided not to. A few minutes passed and Ron just sat there sipping his drink, he hadn't seen Hermione come back from back stage and was wondering where she was when the lights were dimmed and a spotlight was cast on the stage, the curtain was raised and there stood Hermione in front of a microphone.

* * *

><p><strong>:D like it? hate it? :( hopefully its the former and not the latter :) don't forget to review! PS i've made a Polyvore account, which I thought would be better than my photobucket account since I can put the outfits together on Polyvore as opposed to just uploading each item one by one so yea. Go check it out! its azure93(dot)polyvore(dot)com . All the outfits in the story are in a collection but I also have some random outfits that I made on there too. :)<strong>


	30. I found a boy

**So thankfully writers block hasn't come back and I was able to come up with this chapter, plus I really wanted to be able to upload at least one chapter on my birthday, I'm already working on the next chapter so I might be uploading another chapter today, but I won't promise anything in case I don't. Just a fair warning, this chapter has three songs in it. In case you just want to skip over the italics, but there are also bits of the story in between some of the lyrics, like in chapter 25. Enough rambling, enjoy! :) OH! One more thing: kgirl235, THANK YOU! lol that was seriously one of the nicest and best reviews I've ever gotten :D**

* * *

><p>As Hermione stood on the stage, she could not shake the feeling someone was watching her, well obviously people were watching her but she felt a particular set of eyes staring hard at her, she couldn't tell who it was but decided to ignore them, whoever they were.<p>

She didn't know that Ron was there but she had decided when she was getting ready that she would dedicate her set tonight, to him much like she'd dedicated her last performance to Draco.

"Before I start, I would like to dedicate my performance tonight to a person from my past…my former fiancé."

Ron's eyes grew wide and he almost choked on his drink; OH NO, did she know he was there? He glanced at the booth where Draco, Harry, Luna, Ginny and Blaise sat, expecting them to be glaring at him but they were staring at Hermione with as much surprise as him. He had a million questions running through his mind but they immediately stopped when the band started playing, his eyes went straight to Hermione; she had his undivided attention.

_I thought I told you, he'd be home soon  
>Couldn't help myself, you're too good to be true<br>I fall short each time,  
>Every time he ain't here<br>You and your charm creep closer  
>Closer in here<br>Like a fool for fire I fall, with my pride and all  
>Like a bomb before explosion,<br>Ticking by your call,  
>You're the wiser one, disguised from greed,<br>And I'm just a child who belongs on her knees._

_But I found a boy who I love more,_  
><em>Than I ever did you before,<em>  
><em>So stand beside the river I cried,<em>  
><em>And let yourself down!<em>  
><em>Look how you want me now that I don't need you.<em>

Hermione looked straight out into the crowd and for a split second, Ron could have sworn that she was looking directly at him as she sang.

_So, you thought that I'd crumble to my knees_  
><em>At the first "I love you", crawling back to me<em>  
><em>To whisper "will you leave your man?"<em>  
><em>Cause you swear that this time you can stand by me.<em>  
><em>I won't stand by you.<em>

_Cause I found a boy who I love more,_  
><em>Than I ever did you before,<em>  
><em>So stand beside the river I cried<em>  
><em>And let yourself down!<em>  
><em>Look how you want me now that I don't need you<em>

_I ain't yours for no taking,_  
><em>You must be mistaken<em>  
><em>I could never look into your eyes, and settle for wrong<em>  
><em>And ignore the right<em>

_Well I found a boy who loves me more,_  
><em>Than you ever did before.<em>  
><em>So stand beside the river you cried<em>  
><em>And let yourself down!<em>  
><em>Look how you want me now that I don't need you.<em>

Hermione eyed the crowd and her eyes landed and her friends' table, they were all clapping, cheering and Draco was grinning widely, knowing that the song was also partially dedicated to him, as he was the boy she loved more than she had ever loved Weasley, she smiled back at him and winked before turning her eyes away again. Her eyes wandered again and they landed on a gentleman sitting at the very back, in private booth; she could not make out his face but there was something so familiar about him, she decided to go up to him after her performance.

The band started playing a familiar country melody and she smirked as she thought of how many times she'd wanted to sing this song and dedicate it to Ron, before she finally began to sing.

_Right now he's probably slow dancing with a beach-blond tramp  
>and she's probably getting frisky...<br>right now, he's probably buying her some fruity little drink  
>'cause she can't shoot whiskey...<em>

_Right now, he's probably up behind her with a pool-stick,_  
><em>showing her how to shoot a combo...<em>

_And he don't know..._

_That I dug my key into the side of his_  
><em>pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,<em>  
><em>carved my name into his leather seats...<em>  
><em>I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,<em>  
><em>slashed a hole in all 4 tires...<em>

_Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats._

_Right now, she's probably up singing some  
>white-trash version of Shania karaoke.<br>Right now, she's probably saying "I'm drunk"  
>and he's a thinking that he's gonna get lucky,<br>Right now, he's probably dabbing on  
>3 dollars' worth of that bathroom polo...<em>

_Oh and he don't know..._

Hermione thought back to the night she caught Ron with Isabella, she let the anger of remembering the sight of him fucking her on the bed they'd shared so many times take over her and she poured all of that out into her voice as she sang the chorus again.

_That I dug my key into the side of his  
>pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,<br>carved my name into his leather seats,  
>I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,<br>slashed a hole in all 4 tires..._

_Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats._

_I might've saved a little trouble for the next girl,_  
><em>'cause the next time that he cheats...<em>

_Oh, you know it won't be on me!_

_No...Not on me…_

_'Cause I dug my key into the side of his  
>pretty little souped up 4 wheel drive,<br>carved my name into his leather seats...  
>I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights,<br>slashed a hole in all 4 tires..._

_Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats._

_Oh.. Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats..._

_Ohh... before he cheats..._

The room erupted in applause and cheers, making Hermione smile widely and laugh a bit. She decided to take a small break and have a drink with her friends before going back up to sing her last song of the night.

* * *

><p>Ron was mesmerized by Hermione, she'd definitely changed since the last time he saw her, there was something about the way she carried herself now, she looked stronger, she put more effort into her appearance now and she'd fixed that god awful voice of hers. She sounded MUCH better now, he'd always hated when she sang but now her voice was the most beautiful sound in the world to him.<p>

* * *

><p>Hermione made her way to her friend's table but as she neared the table, she stopped and again stared at the man in the back of the room in the private booth; because of the low light, she still could not make out his face but he there was just something SO FAMILIAR about him. She was about to walk over to his booth when Ginny called her over to their table.<p>

As she sat down she was showered with compliments from her friends and boyfriend, which made her blush. A few minutes and one cocktail later, Hermione got up from the table and made her way back up on stage for her last song of the night.

Her eyes immediately went to the back of the room but found nothing, the man was no longer there. "When did he leave?" she thought. She was a bit disappointed because she'd wanted to talk to him or at least see him up close, maybe seeing him would have triggered a memory or make it clear as to why he seemed so familiar.

"Oh well" she thought "must not have been anyone of importance." How wrong she was.

The band began to play one last time as she began to sing.

_Here's the thing we started out friends  
>It was cool but it was all pretend<br>Yeah, yeah  
>Since U Been Gone<em>

_You dedicated you took the time_  
><em>Wasn't long till I called you mine<em>  
><em>Yeah, yeah<em>  
><em>Since U Been Gone<em>

_And all you'd ever hear me say_  
><em>Is how I pictured me with you<em>  
><em>That's all you'd ever hear me say<em>

Hermione imagined ron sitting in the restaurant and she again poured all her anger at remembering him and all the happiness she'd felt now that she was with Draco into her voice as she sang the chorus as if Ron would hear her and feel all the emotions going through her.

_But Since U Been Gone_  
><em>I can breathe for the first time<em>  
><em>I'm so moving on<em>  
><em>Yeah, yeah<em>  
><em>Thanks to you<em>  
><em>Now I get<em>  
><em>What I want<em>  
><em>Since U Been Gone<em>

_How can I put it? You put me on_  
><em>I even fell for that stupid love song<em>  
><em>Yeah, yeah<em>  
><em>Since U Been Gone<em>

_How come I'd never hear you say_  
><em>I just wanna be with you<em>  
><em>I guess you never felt that way<em>

As she was singing, Ron had snuck backstage. He could still hear her beautiful voice, and he felt a pain in his heart as he listened to the lyrics and realized why that song was dedicated to him, maybe he should stop. Maybe she really was happy without him…"NO", he thought; that had to be a side effect to whatever spell Malfoy had her under, she couldn't hate him, she had to LOVE him.

He peaked over the corner and saw a door with Hermione's name on it and figured she would have to come back there after the performance. He was about to walk toward it but he realized that the same muscular man that had followed Hermione back here in the first place was still standing guard.

"Damn" he thought. There was no way he'd be able to get past him…then it hit him…how could he be so stupid? He was a WIZARD! He quickly took out his wand, pointed it at Alec and muttered "Stupefy"; Alec fell to the ground with a thud but with the music playing, no one would notice.

_But Since U Been Gone  
>I can breathe for the first time<br>I'm so moving on  
>Yeah, yeah<br>Thanks to you  
>Now I get (I get) what I want<br>Since U Been Gone_

_You had your chance you blew it_  
><em>Out of sight, out of mind<em>  
><em>Shut your mouth I just can't take it<em>  
><em>Again and again and again and again<em>

Ron ran over to the unconscious man and dragged him to around the corner and threw him into a storage closet. Just in case he woke up, he performed a quick memory charm and erased any memory of Draco telling him to look out for Hermione. He plucked a few hairs from his head and threw them into a small flask he had with him, after a few minutes, he drank it. Before walking out of the closet, he transformed his clothes to match the clothes Alec had been wearing; he peeked out of the closet, made sure no one was looking, came out and stood outside Hermione's door with the same sinister smile on his face. "Soon", he thought as he listened to her finish out the song.

_Since U Been Gone_  
><em>I can breathe for the first time<em>  
><em>I'm so moving on<em>  
><em>Yeah, yeah<em>  
><em>Thanks to you (thanks to you)<em>  
><em>Now I get, I get what I want<em>  
><em>I can breathe for the first time<em>  
><em>I'm so moving on<em>  
><em>Yeah, yeah<em>  
><em>Thanks to you (thanks to you)<em>  
><em>Now I get (I get)<em>  
><em>You should know (you should know)<em>  
><em>That I get, I get what I want<em>  
><em>Since U Been Gone<em>  
><em>Since U Been Gone<em>  
><em>Since U Been Gone<em>

* * *

><p>Hermione finished the song and the crowd started to applaud again, she took a bow and walked backstage, toward her dressing room.<p>

"Hey Alec" she said to 'Alec' with a bright smile; 'Alec' just smiled brightly back at her and nodded as she walked into her dressing room and closed the door.

He was about to go into her room when a man came down the hall toward her room, Ron had seen him at the club the other night with Hermione and another man. He figured the man was gay by the way he was dancing with the other gentleman so he decided he was no threat to him or his plan so he let the man pass.

"Hey Mione!' greeted Santi as he entered the room.

"Hey Santi, what did you think of my song selection tonight?" she asked with a cheeky smile on her face.

He laughed as he replied "It was very fitting. If only the rat bastard had been here to hear you."

Hermione inwardly cringed, she hadn't told Santi that Ron was in Dallas and she didn't want to ruin their good mood by bringing it up now.

Ron was listening in on their conversation and wanted to burst in and punch Santi or whatever his name was, in the face. How dare he talk about him that way! No, he had to control his anger or otherwise his planning and efforts would have been for nothing; he calmed himself down and remained outside until Santi left.

He waited for a couple of minutes to make sure no one else was going to barge in and ruin his plan, when he was sure there was no one else coming, he slipped into her dressing room, magically locked and silenced the room without Hermione noticing.

Hermione was sitting at her vanity, drinking some water when she heard her door open and close again; she turned around and saw Alec.

"Hey Alec, what do you need?" she asked before turning back to her vanity; when he didn't answer, she turned again and saw a sinister smile on his face. She suddenly got a horrible feeling.

"A-alec?" she stammered.

"You" he said, advancing toward her slowly, with that smile still on his face.

"W-what?"

"You asked me what I needed…I. Need. YOU" he said as he got even closer to her.

"Al-"was all she got out before she screamed in horror; Alec's face and body started to bubble and soon it wasn't Alec standing in front of her, it was Ronald Weasley.

Hermione started to back away but Ron was right behind her; she frantically looked around the room for her wand but she couldn't find it.

"FUCK!" she thought as she remembered that she'd left it with Draco when she took her break.

Ron had backed her up into a wall and was about to grab her when she kicked him in the groin and ran for the door as he doubled over and fell to the ground. She reached the door, but couldn't open it, she pulled and pulled but it wouldn't budge.

Behind her, she heard Ron laughing; "you're the smartest witch of your age Hermione, you should be able to tell when a door is magically locked."

Hermione's eyes grew wider as she gasped, in her frantic state she didn't feel the magical energy surrounding the door; she felt it now and what's more she felt magical energy radiating from the walls which meant he'd also silenced the room so no matter how much or how loud she screamed, no one would hear her.

Tears of panic and fear streamed down her face and she turned around to look at Ron who was once again advancing toward her.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

He smiled a wicked smile, "that should be obvious love; I have to break whatever spell that FERRET has you under so we can be happy together again."

"What are you talking about Ronald, Draco doesn't have me under any spell, and WE can NEVER be happy again…you made sure of that when you murdered my first child." She spat out.

"No…that's the spell talking. You LOVE me Hermione, I know you do. And I will admit I was at fault when we lost our baby, but that doesn't mean we can't make another."

He lunged at her but she had quick reflexes and moved out of the way, making him crash into the door and drop the flask he'd been carrying in his jacket.

"I DON'T LOVE YOU RONALD! I LOVE DRACO!"

He was growing angry now, "NO YOU DON'T!" he shouted "YOU LOVE ME! YOU CAN ONLY LOVE ME!"

He chased her all around her dressing room but could not catch her; he had not wanted to resort to this but she was being too difficult so she left him no choice. He pointed his wand at Hermione who was now standing in front of her vanity and yelled "Stupefy"; the force of the spell sent her flying backwards making her hit the wall, breaking her vanity mirror and knocking her unconscious in the process.

Her limp body lay on the floor on top of broken pieces of her mirror; he picked her up and apparated away.

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><p>Harry, Luna, Blaise and Ginny were all going on about how great Hermione's performance was; Draco simply sat there, sneaking glances at the backstage door, waiting for Hermione to come back out but she never came. Draco was starting to get a horrible sinking feeling; had it been any other night, he would not have worried so much but knowing that the weasel was in town and trying to get Hermione back was enough to make any man worry.<p>

He would wait another couple of minutes and if she didn't come back out, he was going backstage to find her. Just then, Alec came out looking very confused and disoriented; Draco immediately got up and approached the man.

After talking to him, Draco ran back to the booth where everyone sat and frantically said, "Something happened to Hermione."

This immediately caught everyone's attention, they all stood up at the same time and yelled "WHAT!"

Harry repeated the question and Draco explained about seeing Alec come out and asking him if Hermione was okay and Alec responded with "how would I know if Hermione was okay?", Draco obviously thought that was suspicious so he went through his mind and found no memory of Draco telling him to stand guard at Hermione's door.

This immediately got everyone worried so they all ran backstage to Hermione's room but could not get it open, finally Draco pulled out his wand and magically unlocked the door. Everyone's jaw dropped as they opened the door, the whole room was trashed; the couch and loveseat were turned over and Hermione's vanity mirror was shattered, with pieces on the floor.

Draco's eyes immediately went to a silver flask that was at his feet; he grabbed it, opened it and smelled it. His eyes grew wide and he dropped the flask as realization dawned on him.

"What is it Draco?" asked Harry

Draco only said two words, "Polyjuice Potion"

Those two simple words spoke volumes to the four people behind him; Ron had taken Hermione.

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><p><strong>Good? bad? so so? I could have dragged out her performance and that night in general out but I thought that the more I dragged it out, the harder it was going to be for me to finish the chapter and the over all story. It's getting close to the end, I won't say there will be this many chapters left because I have no idea how many more I'll write before I finish lol. The songs used were "I found a boy" by Adele, "Before he cheats" by Carrie Underwood, and "Since U been gone" by Kelly Clarkson<strong>


	31. We'll find her

**So this is the second chapter I was working on yesterday but wasn't able to upload. Thank you for all your birthday wishes and the wonderful reviews :) I hope you all like this chapter as much as you did the last.**

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><p>Draco, Ginny, Blaise, Harry and Luna ran out of the House of Blues, frantically looking around them to see if they could catch a glimpse of Hermione or the weasel, but they didn't of course.<p>

Their first instinct was to head back to Hermione's loft; when they reached her door, they all took out their wands and slowly opened the door. There was no one there but Draco insisted on checking her bedroom since the door was closed. He cautiously advanced to the door and pressed his ear to the door but heard nothing. He still thought she might be inside so he readied his wand and blew the door open…and again…found nothing.

He dropped his wand and in his frustration, punched the wall leaving a hole in the drywall; he'd never felt so hopeless. He suddenly grew very angry with himself; HE should have been standing guard at her door, HE could have stopped the weasel from coming near Hermione. He dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands and groaned in frustration.

Everyone came into the room and Draco felt two hands on his shoulders, he looked and found Harry and Blaise looking at him.

"Don't worry Drake, we'll find her" said Blaise

"And we won't stop until we do" added Harry with a weak smile.

Draco gave a heavy sigh but eventually got up off the ground; they all started to leave Hermione's bedroom, Draco was right behind Harry but before he left, he punched the wall again to let out his frustration and finally closed the door.

* * *

><p>Ron paced back and sat at the bar of the hotel's lounge, sipping his drink with a smug smile on his face. He'd done it, he'd taken Hermione away from the ferret and now she was all his. He'd apparated them back to his hotel suite while Hermione was still unconscious; when they arrived, he poured some sleeping draught down her throat so she wouldn't wake up all of a sudden and try to run away.<p>

He had everything planned out; he'd booked two first class seats on the next available plane back to London which unfortunately wasn't until noon the next day but that didn't matter too much to him, no one knew where he was staying (or so he thought) and that meant he'd just have more time to lift the spell Malfoy had placed on his precious Hermione. He just knew that once he did that, Hermione would love him again and they would be very happy together.

* * *

><p>Draco was pacing back and forth in Hermione's living room, muttering angrily to himself while everyone else sat on the couch drinking coffee to keep them alert; it had been 2 hours since they left the House of Blues and they hadn't located her yet.<p>

"Draco, stop. Seriously, you're making me dizzy and you'll ruin Hermione's floor if you keep pacing" said Ginny

"Look Draco, we'll find her, I know we will and stop blaming yourself, you couldn't have known that Ron was going to transform himself into someone else and take her." Said Harry in hopes of calming him down

Draco stopped pacing and looked at Harry before yelling, "BUT I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING! I KNEW IT WASN'T SAFE FOR HER TO LEAVE WITH THE WEASEL ROAMING THE STREETS! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER! IF I'D PAID ATTENTION TO MY INSTICTS, SHE WOULD BE HERE WITH US RIGHT NOW AND NOT WITH THAT ARSEHOLE!"

Luna walked up to him, completely calm but when she stood in front of him, she slapped him so hard everyone was sure the entire building heard it.

Draco put a hand to his throbbing cheek, mouth agape and looked at Luna with eyes as wide as saucers.

"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF DRACO!" yelled the petite blonde, "SHE'S OUR FRIEND TOO, WE'RE JUST AS WORRIED ABOUT HER AS YOU ARE! WE'LL FIND HER!"

Draco simply nodded in response to her, not daring to defy her after seeing her in all her fury.

"Now" said Luna, turning to look at the others who also stared at her with wide eyes and mouths open "where could Ron have taken Hermione?"

Realization dawned on Ginny who immediately yelled out "OH MY GOD! HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?"

Everyone turned to the redhead as they waited for her to elaborate on her epiphany.

"Don't you all see?" she asked the group but all she received were blank stares, she sighed as she said "Don't you remember where Blaise and I saw Ronald?"

Harry and Luna still stared blankly at Ginny but Blaise and Draco had realized where she was going as they yelled out in unison, "THE JOULE HOTEL!"

Ginny smiled widely, "EXACTLY! He probably took her to his hotel room! As far as I know, he doesn't know that we, she gestured to herself, Blaise and Draco, were also staying there. He probably thinks we'll never think to look for her there!"

"You're brilliant Ginny!" exclaimed Draco who now had a newfound hope of getting Hermione back before that idiot harmed her.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Harry "Let's go get her back!"

They all put down their coffee; made sure they had their wands on them and rushed out of Hermione's loft, toward the Joule Hotel.

* * *

><p>Isabella sat behind the reception desk inside the Joule's lobby; she'd been given called in to take over the night shift on short notice because the other receptionist, Aria's, mother had to be rushed to the hospital and Aria left to be with her. Isabella didn't mind, she had no plans tonight and taking this shift today meant that she had tomorrow off, which was perfect since her boyfriend, Brandon, also had the day off, so they would be able to spend the day together.<p>

Despite her initial thoughts, Ronald Weasley's presence hadn't affected her in the slightest; she only seen him once more after his arrival but they didn't interact at all, much to her pleasure.

As happy as she was that he wasn't there to ruin her life, she still didn't like the fact that he was in Dallas, she still hadn't figured out why he was there to begin with but she was sure it wasn't for anything good.

She figured no one was going to check out or in at this late hour so she decided to check her email on the main desk's computer. She was in the middle of replying to an email from her mother back in England when she was interrupted by a very drunk Ronald Weasley who slumped over the desk.

"Can I help you" she asked with distain as she glared at the drunken wizard.

"Aww, are you still mad at me Bella?" slurred Ron.

Isabella didn't answer; she simply stared at the wizard.

"Oh come on Bella, it was only Lavender. I had only been shagging her for two months when you found out" he reasoned as if that was somehow supposed to make her forgive him.

Isabella fumed, she wanted to slap him but she was working and assaulting a guest of the hotel would most certainly get her fired. She just continued to ignore him.

Ron didn't care that she was ignoring him; he walked behind the desk and slid up next to her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked angrily.

Ron put his hands on her thighs and began to run them further up, "You always had such great legs" he slurred lowly to her "they look great in this skirt you know, but they'd look better if I was between them."

She'd had enough, she didn't care if she got fired, and she was not going to take this blatant sexual harassment from this pig. She drew her hand back and slapped him hard across the face, making him stumble backwards and falling, before yelling "Security!"

Two muscular men came up to the desk and asked what was wrong; "this _gentleman_" she said with disgust as she gestured to Ron, "was harassing me. He's a guest of the hotel, and he's clearly had a few too many drinks, could you two be so kind as to take him to his room?"

The two gentlemen nodded, she told them his room number and they picked him up off the floor and carried him away, with his arms around each of their shoulders.

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><p>Not even five minutes after security carried Ronald away; Harry, Luna, Draco, Blaise and Ginny came in through the front door and ran to the reception desk.<p>

Isabella had gone back to replying to her email when she felt people come up to the desk; "how can I-"she stopped mid-sentence when she noticed a few familiar faces among those gathered around the desk. Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley and a few people she did not immediately recognize were all looking at her; Harry and Ginny with surprise, the others just stared at her, waiting for her to speak.

"Isabella?" gasped out Ginny "What are you doing here?"

Isabella was glad that there was no hint of anger in Ginny's voice, just shock; she answered slowly "I work here."

That took the surprise from Harry and Ginny's faces and it was not until then that Isabella sensed their worry and unease.

She had a feeling this had to do with Ronald so she asked the question she'd not been able to finish earlier, "how can I help you? I don't mean to sound nosy or anything but you all seem very tense, is there any way I can help?"

Ginny's face seemed to light up at her question "yes there is actually, can you tell us if my brother is staying in the hotel."

Isabella didn't even have to look that up since he was just there and she'd been there when he checked in; she immediately answered "yes"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief; Isabella grew more curious and said "if you don't mind me asking, why are you looking for him?"

Ginny looked at Draco and Blaise before she gave a heavy sigh and explained to Isabella how Ron had kidnapped Hermione because he wanted to get her back and the way he'd kidnapped her.

Isabella's eyes grew wide with shock and horror; she knew he was up to no good. She remembered the first day she'd seen him in Dallas and how she thought that as long as he didn't mess with her, she didn't care what he did; she immediately took that back in her mind.

"I can help you" she said; she leaned in closer to the group and they did the same as she whispered "I'm not normally allowed to give out guest information without their consent but I'm pretty sure this situation is the exception; he's in the Joule Loft on the 4th floor."

She looked around and when she'd made sure no one was looking; she looked around her desk and produced a hotel key.

"This is the housekeeper's universal key; it will open every room door in this hotel." She said as she slid the key toward Ginny.

Ginny took it and looked at Isabella with a grateful look, maybe she wasn't so bad, she thought.

"Thank you" she said with a smile.

Isabella never thought she'd be on the receiving end of a smile from anyone of the Weasley family after what she had done; it made her day.

She smiled back at the redhead and simply said, "It's the least I could do."

The group nodded and they headed toward the elevators, as Ginny was about to turn the corner she turned around to face Isabella and again mouthed "thank you" to her. Isabella simply smiled and mouthed "good luck" to her. Ginny nodded and ran to catch up with her friends who were now filing into an elevator.

She ran into the elevator just before the doors began to close; after they made sure they were all present and had their wands, Draco pushed the circular button with a bold 4 in the center and said, "next stop: the Joule loft".

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><p><strong>What did you think? I know it was shorter than the last one but this one had no songs in it and if I wrote more then I basically would have written the end of the story. I think I might write one or two more chapters, most likely just one...unless I decide to write an epilogue, we'll see. Don't forget to review :D<strong>


	32. Operation: Rescue Hermione

**hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in about a week but this time it wasn't because of writer's block, my internet has been messing up and I can barely get online and it takes FOREVER to load a freaking page let alone upload anything. Anyways enough of my complaing, I know I said I would probably only write one more chapter and then probably an epilogue...yea that's not gonna happen xD well unless you all think that the ending of this chapter is good enough to end the story which I doubt you will (don't worry I don't think so either lol). I'm actually already writing the next chapter which I think will be the ACTUAL last chapter (before the epilogue...if I write one and if you guys want one) so yea :) Enjoy!**

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><p>Harry, Luna, Ginny, Blaise and Draco spilled out of the elevator as they reached the fourth floor. They immediately looked around to make sure no one was roaming the halls and also to see if they caught sight of Ron; they didn't of course.<p>

They began to look at each room's door and Draco cursed when he realized that Isabella had only told them that Ron was in the Joule Loft and nothing more. And at the time he hadn't bothered to ask if the Joule loft had a particular number or if it was simply known as the Joule Loft.

"Fuck" he said to himself, he was growing frustrated. For all they knew, Ron could have left with Hermione again and then they'd be back to square one, only this time they would have absolutely no idea where he'd be.

Blaise's voice came from behind him, "she's here Draco. I know she is, Weasley doesn't know his way around Dallas and he isn't experienced enough to apparated directly back to London."

Draco nodded and gave his friend an appreciative smile; "Blaise is right" he thought "She's here, she has to be."

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><p>Hermione awoke startled, not knowing where she was; she looked around but found that nothing looked familiar to her. She couldn't quite remember what happened or how she got to her current location; what she did know was that her entire backside hurt, especially her head. Why? She racked her brain for any hint of why her body ached or how she arrived to this particular bedroom when she heard a door open.<p>

Security dumped a very drunk Ronald Weasley on the couch in the living room of his suite with great force, not that he felt it though. Ronald Weasley, ever the sloth, had literally fallen asleep in the arms of the security guards as soon as the elevator started moving.

Hermione's eyes grew wide as she caught sight of the ginger's hair through the crack of the slightly opened bedroom door, memories suddenly flooding back to her. She remembered her performance at the House of Blues, Alec's face morphing into Ronald Weasley's face as he chased her around her dressing room, and him stupefying her before everything had gone black.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she covered her mouth to keep from screaming and from sobbing hysterically. She had been kidnapped, and she didn't have her wand; she felt so helpless. NO, she had to get out of here, wherever here was; she was the brightest witch of her age damn it! She was not going to be bested by fucking Ronald Weasley.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down and backed away from the door. She started to look around the room, for anything that might help her escape. In all honesty, she was hoping to find Ron's wand but she knew the chances of that happening were slim to none.

"Looking for this?" came a slurred voice behind her.

Hermione shot straight up and froze immediately; from what she'd seen when security dumped him on the couch, she'd expected him to be knocked out for at least another half hour.

She turned around slowly with a horrified expression on her face, behind her stood Ron with an insanely creepy smile on his face while he held his wand in his hand.

Her throat went dry all of a sudden and she found that she could not speak.

"Tsk, tsk love, were you trying to escape?" slurred Ron

Hermione still could not find her voice and remained frozen in front of the bedside table she'd just been searching through.

Ron was growing angry; his anger and the fact that he was still pissed off his arse was a dangerous combination.

He stalked toward her slowly making her snap out of her trance of terror. Unfortunately, she didn't snap out of it quick enough; Ron quickly pounced on her and pinned her to the floor.

Hermione grew panicked, Ron had a crazy look in his eyes and it was more than enough reason to worry anyone.

She began to struggle but that only caused Ron's anger to grow even more, so much that when she continued to struggle he let go of her wrist only to backhand her across the face.

"Keep struggling Hermione, you have no idea how much it's turning me on" he whispered in a husky voice into her ear. Hermione shuddered in disgust, her eyes then suddenly widened as she realized where Ron was heading with the whole thing.

She started to thrash against him, trying to escape but it was futile and what was worse, she could feel Ron's erection bulging against her; it was enough to make her want to vomit in his face.

"Now you're getting into it" said Ron into her ear and then proceeded to kiss her neck which only made Hermione struggle even more, trying to get away from this disgusting excuse for a wizard.

Ron started to roam his hands all over her body knowing that she would not be able to knock his body off of hers. He started to fondle her breasts and was soon ripping her sequined shirt and bra off to gain better access.

Hermione started to cry and scream as Ron started to bite and suck on her breast which only made him more aggressive as he roughly kneaded her other breast. With his lips still attached to Hermione's breast his hands started to move lower and started to unbutton her jeans. Hermione let out a blood curdling scream.

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><p>Draco's head immediately jerked toward a semi lit hallway when he heard a woman scream, one thought rang through his mind: Hermione!<p>

Apparently the rest of the group had also heard the scream because as he was running toward the only door at the end of said hallway, Blaise, Ginny, Harry and Luna soon caught up to him.

They came to a halt at the door at the end of the hallway and on frosted glass plaque next to the door, in bold black letters, read "The Joule Loft".

As they heard Hermione let out another scream, Harry was about ready to bust down the door when Draco stopped him. "Wait" he said.

"What the fuck Draco! Don't you hear Hermione screaming in there? Who knows what Ron is doing to her right now and you're telling me to WAIT!"

"Yes I fucking hear her Potter and believe me, I want to burst in there and kill that fucking weasel as much if not more than you do, but if we break down the door then he'll hear us and he could just as easily escape with Hermione and this time we'd have no idea where to look."

Harry sighed; Draco was right, "So what are we going to do?"

This time Ginny answered, "Isabella gave us a universal key remember?" she said holding up the hotel card key "we can open the door without Ron hearing and I beat he already doesn't suspect that we're here. We'll have the element of surprise on our side."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement and Ginny quietly slipped the key into the card reader above the door handle and when the indicator light turned a bright green, she slowly pushed the door open, making sure to make as little noise as possible. They all silently walked into the small entryway of the hotel suite, looking around and taking in their surroundings. Harry, Blaise and Draco headed further inside as Ginny and Luna set up anti apparition wards so Ron couldn't escape once they cornered him and silencing charms so no one would hear them if things got out of hand.

They once again heard Hermione scream and quickly but quietly made their way toward a semi open door that lead to a bedroom.

Draco peeked inside and immediately wanted to rush in and kill the bastard that was hurting his Hermione. Inside was a half-naked weasel straddling a struggling, screaming and also half-naked Hermione.

He couldn't take this anymore, before Harry or Blaise could grab onto him, Draco burst into the bedroom, startling Ron Weasley who practically fell back upon hearing the door being kicked open.

Harry and Blaise immediately ran in and got on either side of Draco, wands at the ready and pointed directly at Ronald Weasley.

Ginny and Luna also ran inside but immediately went to Hermione's side and held her as she broke down into sobs.

"YOU!" yelled Draco directly at Ron "YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR HURTING MY GIRLFRIEND!"

Anger took over Ron as Draco claimed Hermione was his; Hermione only belonged to one man and that was RONALD WEASLEY! He lunged at the platinum blonde but before he could make contact, the wind was knocked out of him as Harry punched him in the gut.

He fell back on his arse and looked up at the raven haired wizard with a look of shock, hurt and rage, "WHAT THE FUCK HARRY! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE MY BEST FRIEND AND YOU'RE HELPING THE ENEMY!"

Harry had had enough of Ron's crap, "YOU'RE THE ENEMY YOU ARSEHOLE! HERMIONE IS MY BEST FRIEND AND YOU NOT ONLY KIDNAPPED HER BUT YOU WERE ABOUT TO RAPE HER! SO DON'T FUCKING TALK TO ME ABOUT BEING 'BEST FRIENDS'!" he yelled; his face crimson from anger.

Blaise turned to Ginny, and Luna who were still trying to calm down a hysteric Hermione "get her out of here" he told Ginny who simply nodded in reply. She and Luna threw Hermione's arms around their shoulders, lifted her up and started to walk out of the room.

"YOU'RE NOT TAKING HER ANYWHERE!" yelled Ron who lunged again but this time and Ginny; it was now Blaise's turn to exact a bit of revenge on Hermione's behalf.

Before Ron reached Ginny, a massive fist connected with his face with such force that he literally flew backwards and hit the wall. Harry and Draco swore they heard bones crack.

"That's gonna leave a mark" said Harry with a smirk on his face.

"You will NEVER lay a finger on Hermione again, got that weasel?' hissed Blaise.

"Fuck" thought Ron. He was outnumbered and he didn't even have his wand, it was on the opposite side of the room, lying next to where Hermione had been pinned down.

He knew he wouldn't be able to beat the three wizards in front of him, even WITH his wand so he decided on the next best thing: escape.

He slowly got up with a smirk on his face, as soon as he was standing up on his own, he spun on his heel but didn't feel the tug he usually felt when apparating. Frowning he opened his eyes and found himself face to face again with Draco, Blaise and Harry who all had evil smiles on their faces.

"Do you really think we'd be so stupid as to not set up anti apparition wards Weasley?" said Draco

"FUCK!" thought Ron, now his only means of escape was somehow disabling the three wizards in front of him and running out of the hotel room.

Of course Ronald Weasley being as rash and hard headed as he was, didn't wait for the proper moment to try and escape and just tried to bolt toward the door as soon as he could.

As soon as Ron broke out running Draco lunged and tackled the redhead to the ground, who landed with a loud THUD!

"You really are that thick aren't you weasel?" said Draco in a very condescending voice "you're not going ANYWHERE so I'd stop trying to escape if I were you."

"FUCK YOU FERRET!" yelled Ron who then spat in Draco's face which caused Draco to punch him so hard that he blacked out.

If it wasn't for Blaise and Draco pulling him up off Ron's unconscious body on the floor, Draco would have kept beating Ron until he'd be bloody and unrecognizable.

"Come on Drake; go check on Hermione, she needs you right now. Harry and I will take care of Weasley."

Draco simply nodded and left the bedroom but not before he turned around and kicked an unconscious Ron in the ribs.

Draco went out into the living room and found Ginny and Luna sitting on a coffee table facing Hermione who was sniffling and grasping a cup of green tea.

When they had busted into the bedroom, Hermione hadn't been wearing a shirt or bra since Ron had savagely ripped both items off but now she was wearing the striped black and gray sweater that Ginny had on and Ginny was now in the teal long sleeve cotton shirt she had been wearing under.

Ginny and Luna spotted Draco and said something to Hermione that Draco hadn't been able to hear, got up headed back to the bedroom where Harry and Blaise were.

Draco walked over to her and sat on the coffee table just as Ginny and Luna had done.

"Hey" he whispered, he'd wanted to reach over and hug her but he after what the weasel had been trying to do, the last thing she wanted was to be touched by any guy.

Hermione had stopped sniffling and looked at Draco over her tea cup, he looked so worried and had such a look of love on his face.

Hermione put down her cup on the end table next to the couch and without warning threw herself on Draco and began to cry softly.

Draco immediately picked her up and sat her on his lap as he held her tightly and whispered soothing words as he let her cry.

* * *

><p>Isabella was sitting on pins and needles; she hadn't seen anyone leave the hotel since Ginny and her friends came in and she was worried about what had happened to them.<p>

She stared at the time on the computer screen, as soon as her shift was over she told herself that she'd go up to Ron's room and make sure everyone was okay. Luckily for her, her shift would end in the next half hour but time seemed to drag on as she waited. While she waited, she looked around her desk for the other universal key she had, when she found it she hid it in her purse so she'd have it when her shift was over.

As soon as the last half hour was up, she ran to the staff room to clock out and ran out toward the elevators. She pressed number four and tapped her foot as she impatiently waited for the elevator doors to shut so she could finally get moving.

Isabella immediately ran out of the elevator as she reached the fourth floor and ran down a small hallway that she knew led to Ron's hotel suite.

When she reached the door, she took out the key card of her purse and inserted it into the reader. When the light turned green, she slowly headed inside.

* * *

><p>Draco was still cradling Hermione in his arms when he heard the door open. He gently put Hermione down on the couch and told her he'd be right back as he got up, wand in hand and headed toward the door.<p>

He walked slowly toward the door as he was about to turn into the entry way his body collided with another making him fall back and drop his wand.

"Shit, I'm so sorry" said a female voice.

He looked up and saw the girl who had helped them in the lobby; he believed he heard her name to be Isabella.

She held out her hand to help him up, Draco took it but not before he grabbed his wand off the floor.

"What are you doing here?" he asked

Before Isabella could answer, Hermione came up behind Draco, "Draco, what happened? I heard-"she didn't finish her question; she simply stared at Isabella with wide eyes and mouth open.

Isabella smiled shyly at Hermione before turning to Draco and saying "it seemed like forever since you all came up here, I just wanted to make sure you all were okay."

Now it was Draco's turn to be interrupted, before HE could answer, Ginny came out of the bedroom and stood next to Hermione.

"Isabella! I'm glad you're here, we could use your help with something" said the redhead as she grabbed Isabella's wrist and pulled her toward the bedroom.

Hermione turned to Draco with eyes still as wide as saucers and said "mind filling me in?"

Draco chuckled and led Hermione back to the living room couch where he sat her down and told her what she had missed.

* * *

><p>Isabella walked into the bedroom with Ginny and found Blaise, Harry and Luna all standing around the bed wands in hand staring at the unconscious body of Ronald Weasley. Ginny quickly filled her in on what had happened when they arrived, Isabella felt nauseous when Ginny told her that if they had arrived any later, Ron would have probably raped Hermione.<p>

"It looks like you all did well on your own, what do you need MY help with" she asked when Ginny finished explaining everything.

Blaise answered, "I take it you're registered with the American ministry of magic since you now live here now?"

Isabella nodded; "Good" said Blaise, "we need you to contact the American ministry so they can take care of Weasley. We can't take him back to London since we're obviously not under the British ministry's jurisdiction so Harry can't do anything even as head Auror."

"Are you sure you don't want to take him back to England?" asked Isabella "the American ministry is much harsher than the British ministry and they won't show any mercy to Ronald even though he's a war hero."

"We're positive" answered Harry "he shouldn't be shown any mercy after what he's done, regardless of his status as a war veteran."

Isabella gave a quick nod and said "alright then, I will go back to my place and contact the ministry. After I contact them, they should arrive almost immediately."

The group nodded and all thanked her before she left the bedroom and headed out the hotel room. She was not even halfway down the hallway outside the room when the door opened and someone asked her to wait.

She turned around and to her surprise Hermione Granger was walking toward her.

"Is something wrong?" asked Isabella

Hermione smiled at the woman and answered, "I just wanted to thank you for helping"

Isabella smiled back at Hermione, "It was no big deal." She said "Ron has hurt too many people and I thought it was time he got what was coming to him."

"Thank you" repeated Hermione with a genuine smile.

"Don't mention it Hermione. And I'm sorry for what I did to you all those years ago."

"It's all in the past" said Hermione "and I'm sorry Ron also did the same to you with Lavender"

"I guess it was just bad Karma" replied Isabella with a small laugh. "I'm glad you're okay and that Ron wasn't able to do too much damage."

"That's actually thanks you. If you hadn't helped them, who knows what would have happened to me"

"Like I told Ginny, it was the least I could do."

Isabella turned around, Hermione did the same and each started to walk toward their own destinations but Isabella stopped and turned around again and said "I know we've never been anything even remotely close to friends but I'd like to change that."

Hermione turned around and smiled, "I'd like that too."

Isabella smiled back before again turning and heading toward the elevators to leave the hotel and head home.

* * *

><p>As soon as Isabella arrived home, she contacted the American ministry who immediately sent three American Aurors over to her home; she told them everything that Ginny had told her and the three Aurors apparated to the hallway outside Ron's suite.<p>

They knocked on the door and were greeted by Harry who let them in and took them to the bedroom where Ron was barely starting to regain consciousness.

"Ugh" groaned Ron as he brought his hand to his swollen and very sore cheek. "What happened?" he thought. He opened his eyes and was greeted with the scowling faces of Harry, Blaise, Ginny, Luna and three men he didn't recognize.

"Ronald Weasley, we have a warrant for your arrest from the American ministry of magic for the kidnapping and attempted rape of Hermione Jean Granger" said one of the American Aurors.

"Bu-bu-but" was all Ron could get out before two of the Aurors lifted him up and bound his hands together magically.

"BUT I'M A WAR HERO!" he finally got out as they were dragging him out of the bedroom and into the living room

"That may win you leniency back in Britain but you're in America, the only way you'd be released now would be if Miss Granger decided to drop the charges against you or if Mr. Potter vouched for you" said a second Auror.

Ron immediately turned to Hermione with wide pleating eyes but she looked at him with such hatred that he knew she wouldn't be dropping the charges. He then turned to Harry and yelled "HARRY! YOU HAVE TO HELP ME! TELL THEM I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT HERMIONE! I LOVE HER; I ONLY WANTED TO GET HER BACK! TELL THEM HARRY!"

Harry just scowled at his former best friend and then said to the Aurors, "Take him away."

The third Auror looked at Harry and asked if they would lift the anti-apparition wards since they didn't want to take Ron outside because he'd just cause a scene and draw unwanted attention to them. Harry nodded and told Luna and Ginny to take down the wards, a few minutes later the Aurors popped out of the room taking Ron with them.

Hermione collapsed on the couch and let out a huge sigh of relief. Harry walked over to her and hugged her tightly, "are you okay? Do you need to go to a hospital or something?"

Hermione smiled at her best friend and replied "thank you but I'm fine, really."

Draco walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, "are you positive?"

She turned around and hugged her boyfriend, "I'm positive. I just want to get home to my cat."

Everyone laughed at her confession, making her smile.

"Alright then, I'll take you home" said Draco.

He put his arms around her waist, looked at everyone and said "see you there" before apparating to Hermione's loft.

Harry and Luna along with Blaise and Ginny soon followed the couple and apparated out of Ron's suite.

* * *

><p><strong>What did you think? :D I thought about killing Ron but decided against it because then I don't think what I wrote for Isabella would have worked...like she would have gone to see that they were okay saw that Ron was dead and just left as opposed to what actually happened. Like I said if you guys are satisfied with that as an ending, I'll stop but I doubt you are (I'm not ha). So the chapter I'm writing now WILL be the LAST (not counting the epilogue, if you guys want one). Please don't forget to review! <strong>


	33. I think I wanna marry you

**Longest chapter ever! (compared to the others lol) Okay so this is the last "official" chapter of the story. I will be doing an epilogue because I think it's kinda needed considering how I ended this chapter. Anyways I really hope you all like it. Oh yea there is one song but the verses are split up with the story in between because I thought it worked better that way :) I kinda feel like I rambled for the most part of this chapter because I put more details into the places they went and more than one day is documented in this chapter but I thought you all might like it. I have hermione's outfit from this story already saved on Polyvore but I have yet to make Luna, Ginny, Harry, Blaise and Draco's outfits. I will make them but it might be a while since my internet is still effing up and won't let me load polyvore so yea. enough rambling. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>The next morning (technically the same morning, as they didn't return until about 2 in the morning) the three couples all sat at the table eating breakfast, which the guys graciously offered to make.<p>

They'd all slept at Hermione's place after leaving Ron's suite. Draco and Hermione in her room, Harry and Luna in the guest room and Blaise and Ginny slept in the living room after Hermione transfigured her large sectional couch into a queen size bed.

After breakfast, Blaise, Draco and Ginny went back to their hotel room to shower but promised to come back as soon as they finished. Harry, Luna and Hermione also took the opportunity to take relaxing showers.

About an hour later, the group reunited and decided to go out and enjoy all the Dallas had to offer since Blaise and Draco were due to head back to London in two days. Ginny would also be heading back the day after the boys left and only Harry and Luna would be staying in Dallas for at least another week.

Hermione took them to the DMA (Dallas Museum of Art), the Asian art museum, the Nasher sculptor gardens, and the Dallas Arboretum.

Luckily she'd had that night off from singing, she wasn't sure she could handle going back to her dressing room so soon after what happened so she took that opportunity to call the manager and told him that she would be taking at least another day or two off…for personal reasons. He had no objections since she rarely took days off unless it was in her schedule.

They had a lovely day out and Hermione promised more sightseeing tomorrow since it was Draco and Blaise's last day in town. Blaise and Ginny headed back to their hotel, Draco also headed back with them…but only to get some clothes, and after he packed a small duffel bag with essentials he headed back to Hermione's loft.

* * *

><p>The following morning Hermione woke up a bit sad. She looked over at the sleeping blonde next to her and sighed, he was leaving early tomorrow morning. She never thought she'd grow to love him so quickly or as much as she did, but she did and just as quickly as he reentered her life, he was leaving it.<p>

She slowly got out of bed so as not to wake him and she slipped into her bathroom to take a shower. As the hot water fell over her body she slowly started cry. She didn't want him to leave but she wouldn't ask him to stay with her, she wasn't that selfish.

About half an hour later when she stepped out of the shower, she saw that Draco wasn't in bed and her bed was now made. She figured he was in the living room or in the kitchen making coffee so she headed to her closet to get dressed.

Today she'd be taking them to Fort Worth; specifically to the Kimbell art museum and to the Japanese botanical gardens and then back to Dallas so she could take them to Fair Park because today was the first day of the State Fair of Texas.

After she and Santi became best friends he took her to Fair Park to experience the fair and she loved every second of it; it became tradition that the two of them would go every year, multiple times and try something from every single food stand, especially the new ones. Hermione loved the fair and thought that it would be a great way for Draco and Blaise to spend their last full day in Dallas.

She came out of her closet wearing dark skinny jeans, navy TOMS with silver metallic spirals all over them, a long sleeve light blue plaid woven shirt, her infinity snake ring still on her left hand, a silver heart locket her parents had given her one Christmas and a simple pony bead bracelet her cousin, Annalee, had made for her. It was mostly letters with clear blue beads in between the words; it read "together forever and a day". Hermione couldn't remember the exact story where she'd read it but she did remember it was a line she'd read in a story and she'd loved that particular line ever since, what with her being such a romantic, even though her love life had never been anything close to ideal.

She just put on some foundation, mascara, nude lip gloss, grabbed her phone and wallet before leaving her bedroom.

* * *

><p>"SURPRISE!"<p>

Hermione jumped back and dropped her wallet and phone on the floor. In front of her stood all her friends including Santi and Devin…wearing party hats?

"Umm…what's going on?" she asked

Her friend's faces turned to one of shock; they stared at her like she'd suddenly grown a third head.

"Don't you know what today is?" asked Santi slowly like he was speaking to a child.

"Friday?" she replied slowly.

Everyone continued to stare at her.

"Anything SPECIAL about this particular Friday?" asked Harry

"No?"

A collective sigh was heard before Draco finally said, "IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY HERMIONE!"

Hermione jaw dropped, it couldn't be…could it? Had she really forgotten her own birthday?

She took her phone out of her pocket and looked at the date, it was indeed September 19th.

"Oh my god" she said out loud, mostly to herself, "how could I have forgotten my own birthday?" she thought.

Draco walked over to her and hugged her tightly and kissed her before pulling back and wishing her a happy birthday as he smiled.

"It would be happier if you decided to stay with me" she thought somberly to herself as she hugged and kissed him back.

Draco pulled her over to the table which was filled with delicious breakfast food; her favorite strawberry and Nutella crepes, chocolate chip waffles, stuffed French toast, croissants with small containers of cream cheese next to them, bacon and sausage on a platter, and a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice. Hermione's mouth watered just looking at the food.

"I hope you like the birthday breakfast we prepared for you Mione" said Ginny who walked over and hugged her.

"It looks amazing" she replied while hugging her back. After Ginny, Blaise walked up to her and also hugged and wished her a happy birthday. This went on until all her guests had a chance to hug her and wish her a happy birthday.

After that was done, they all sat down and enjoyed the delicious breakfast that had been laid out on the table with Hermione sitting at the end of the table with a plastic tiara on her head that Ginny had pulled out her purse.

About half an hour later, the table was cleared by the guys as Hermione sat with Ginny and Luna as she told them what she had planned for them that day.

Santi and Devin again wished her a happy birthday and apologized for not being able to spend the day with her as was tradition but they promised Devin's mother that they would go over to her place and help her and her husband get everything ready for their trip. It was their 50th wedding anniversary and her husband was taking her on a month long vacation to Italy and Greece.

Hermione smiled at her friends told them that it was no big deal and thanked them for being at her birthday breakfast.

Both Devin and Santi hugged her and promised to make it up to her soon before they left her loft.

Once they left, Hermione walked back into her living room and found all her friends sitting on her sectional talking amongst themselves; she walked in front of the fireplace and they all turned to look at her.

She thanked them for the wonderful surprise and told them that even though it was her birthday, she wanted today to be all about Draco and Blaise since it was their last full day in town. Blaise and Draco started to protest but Hermione wasn't having it; she told them that she was the birthday girl and they had to do everything she said, which shut both of them up immediately.

She instructed them to get dressed and to dress comfortably because they would be walking around quite a bit, they all nodded and got up off the couch. Draco headed to Hermione's bedroom to get dressed since he had a duffel bag with clothes, Harry and Luna went to their guest room to get dressed and Ginny and Blaise apparated to their hotel to get dressed.

Not even fifteen minutes later they were all once again sitting on her couch as they waited for Hermione to show up, when they'd all come out of their rooms and gathered again in the living room, she was no longer there, or anywhere in the loft for that matter.

A few days ago, this would have sent them all into crazed frenzy thinking that Ron had taken her but with him safely in the custody of the American ministry of magic, they simply figured she went to get some fresh air.

A couple of minutes later the front door opened and in walked Hermione.

"Sorry for disappearing like that but the main desk called me and told me that my mechanic had just dropped of my car in the garage and left the keys at the desk for me to pick up." She replied upon seeing that all her friends were now back and dressed for the day.

"Are we dressed alright?" asked Luna who was wearing gray skinny jeans, a white and pink striped t-shirt with a soft pink tie waist sweater on top, pink glittered TOMS and a white knit beret that looked adorable on her soft blond curls.

She looked around and assessed everyone else's outfits. Ginny was hearing a somewhat sheer white t-shirt that had the word STONES across the top in soft navy letters and the English flag under it in the shape of the United States, a thin black hoodie on top, dark skinny jeans with a thin white studded belt and gray low top converse.

Blaise was wearing dark jeans, a Lacoste V-neck t-shirt in bright blue that looked great against his dark skin, black converse and a white g-shock watch on his left arm. Harry wore a black t-shirt with a white plaid long sleeve button up shirt open over it, grey jeans and white slip on Vans. Draco wore a green lantern logo t-shirt, gray distressed jeans, black and hunter green converse and also wore a g-shock on his left arm but his was black.

"Perfect" replied Hermione with a smile. She grabbed her wallet off the end table, made sure she had her phone with her and instructed her friends to also make sure they had everything they needed and once they had everything, they left her loft and headed toward the building's parking garage.

They had never seen Hermione's car so they didn't really know where they were heading; they just followed Hermione like sheep.

They reached Hermione's parking spot and couldn't believe that the vehicle parked there was Hermione's. They had all expected her to drive a sensible car like a Prius or some other hybrid car, not the massive, gas guzzling, deep blue Hummer H3 that Hermione walked up to.

"THIS is your car?" asked Draco incredulously

Hermione turned around and laughed, "Yes this is my car. Is that so surprising?"

Her friends' silence answered her question which only made her laugh more.

"Come on then, I'm not getting any younger" she said to her friends who were still just standing there, staring at her H3 with their mouths open. Her voice snapped them out of their stupor and they walked toward the massive vehicle.

Draco got in the passenger's seat up front and Harry, Luna, Ginny and Blaise piled into the back seats.

"Ready?" she asked, looking at them through the rear view mirror; they all nodded and with that, Hermione started the engine and left the parking garage.

* * *

><p>Forty five or so minutes later, Hermione pulled up to the Kimbell art museum in Fort Worth. They piled out of the H3 and followed her to the main entrance. Hermione being who she was had a premium membership at the museum so her and her guests were allowed admission with no charge.<p>

She led them to the north area where the European art was, it was always her favorite area. She didn't spend too much time on British or French art which surprised everyone; instead she immediately headed to the Italian and Spanish works of art.

Hermione could go on for hours about Italian and Spanish artists and works of art such as Caravaggio's _The Cardsharps _or Pablo Picasso's _Man with a pipe_ but she figured her friends would grow bored of her art history lessons so she simply gave each person a map of the museum that showed where specific exhibitions were located and told them they could wander if they wanted and if they did, to meet at the gift shop in an hour and a half.

Her friends went off with their respective partners and left only Hermione and Draco in front of Michelangelo's _The Torment of Saint Anthony_.

She turned to him and smiled before saying "You don't have to stay with me you know. You could go and explore the museum on your own."

Draco grabbed her hand and squeezed it, "why would I want to do that when I have my own personal museum guide right here"

Hermione chuckled and hugged him; together they toured the museum, stopping at Hermione's favorites and Draco listened intently as she described everything she liked about each piece.

Soon the hour and half was up and the two headed to the museum's gift shop to meet up with the others.

When they were all there, they spend another hour or so in the gift shop, browsing and buying random souvenirs from their visit.

Once they were finished making their respective purchases, they left the museum and again piled into Hermione's H3 before she pulled out of the parking lot and headed to the Japanese Botanical gardens.

Within minutes they were there and again as Hermione was an active member and volunteer at the botanical gardens they were again granted admission without charge.

Harry, Blaise, Luna, Ginny and Draco were in awe of the beauty of the garden. There were numerous koi ponds, cherry blossom trees and multiple pagodas connected by bridges.

Hermione looked over at her friends and smiled, she was glad they were enjoying the places she was showing them.

She acted as tour guide since she volunteered here every chance she got so she knew the gardens well.

Roughly two hours later the three couples left the gardens with gift shop bags in hand, all of them, including Luna, teasing Harry who was blushing furiously as he remembered sitting down on the edge of a koi pond and falling backwards into the water when he tried to stand up. Of course he was now completely dry, thanks to Hermione who had shrunken her wand and placed it into her wallet and cast a drying spell on him when they were away from the other visitors.

They continued to relive that memory as they walked back to Hermione's car, much to Harry's chagrin. This time Harry asked to ride in the passenger's seat up front so he didn't have to deal with Blaise's, Ginny's and even Luna's teasing on the ride back. Draco graciously accepted and climbed into the back seat next to Luna and Harry climbed in front and breathed a small sigh of relief. Hermione was the only who saw the relief on Harry's face as he got in up front and chuckled to herself before starting the engine so they could head back to Dallas.

* * *

><p>On the way back Ginny and Harry both asked if they could get something to eat since it was now 3 in the afternoon and they hadn't had anything to eat since her surprise birthday breakfast.<p>

Hermione told them that if they ate now, they wouldn't enjoy themselves as much at the next place she was taking them (she'd only told them she was taking them to Fair Park and left out that it was the first day of the State Fair). Ginny being as dramatic as she was, said that she was going to starve to death if she didn't have anything to eat soon; Hermione finally relented and got off the highway and pulled into the first Jack in the box drive thru she saw. She didn't want them to fill up on burgers so she simply ordered 18 tacos so they, including her because she had to admit she was getting hungry too, would each have 3 tacos. She figured that would hold them off until they arrived back at her place.

Another hour later, the three couples arrived back at Hermione's loft and all but Hermione plopped down on her sectional and dropped their gift shop bags from the museum and the botanical gardens on the floor.

Before she allowed herself to join her friends on her oh so comfortable sectional, she walked into the kitchen and threw away the paper Jack in the box bag that now contained only the paper pouches that once held tacos. She'd just gotten her car back today and she didn't want to fill it with trash so quickly so she took the paper bag along with her own bags since none of her friends had bothered to do so.

She wanted to tell her friends to get up so they could leave again but she could tell they were a bit tired from walking around the museum and gardens; frankly she was tired as well so she just walked over and also plopped down on the sectional next to Draco and rested her head on his shoulder.

She turned on her plasma, went to HBO's on demand channel and played one of her favorite movies, Inception. "Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are so hot" she thought to herself and laughed silently, she had a feeling Draco would disagree with her.

The six of them watched the movie, without really watching it, more like stared at the plasma absentmindedly. Before Nash could dunk Cobb into the bathtub to wake him up, all six of them had fallen asleep.

A little over an hour later Hermione woke up, just in time to hear Eames say her favorite line in the entire movie, "Mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger darling", to Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character). It never failed to make her laugh, and this time was no exception; consequently, her sudden outburst of laughter woke her friends up.

"How long have we been asleep?" asked Ginny.

"Judging by the movie, a little over an hour" replied Hermione.

"Is it too late for us to go to Fair Park?" asked Luna.

Hermione smiled brightly at remembering her plan; "no" she said "actually, now is the perfect time to go"

They all got up off the couch, picked up their phones, purses and wallets before following Hermione out to the parking garage one more time.

The piled into her H3 once again and they left her building.

"Why are we going to Fair Park Mione?" asked Harry.

Hermione smiled slyly and simply answered, "You'll see"

Fifteen minutes after they left her place, they arrived at a massive parking lot that was completely full. They all got out of the car and before they got a chance to ask Hermione where they were, they broke out into a run because Hermione was already WAY ahead of them.

They yelled for her to stop and wait for them, she couldn't help herself; she loved the fair and always got so excited when it was time for it to open. Santi always teased her about the fact that she practically sprinted out the car every time they came together. Reluctantly she stopped in her tracks and turned around to face her friends who were barely catching up to her.

They all asked her again what they were going at Fair Park but she just smiled and led them to the front gate and ticket booths.

Hermione paid for their tickets, handed one to each of them along with a booklet, not because they needed them (well maybe the booklet, since it contained a map) but because she thought they would enjoy having them as another souvenir. They all looked down at the small booklet she'd handed them; on the front cover in big bold letters read "_MAP & GUIDE TO THE STATE FAIR OF TEXAS"_.

They all looked at Hermione with an odd expression, expecting an explanation but she just stood there grinning like a lunatic.

She grabbed Draco's wrist and started to pull him along with her and yelled "COME ON!" to the rest of her friends who were still just standing there stupidly. They quickly followed the couple ahead of them into the fair grounds.

* * *

><p>To say that they were amazed by what was inside would be a MAJOR understatement; the fairgrounds were packed with people, young and old, walking around stopping at various stands and eating different (and mostly fried) foods.<p>

They weren't even that deep into the grounds when they were started by a loud booming voice, they looked up and found a giant cowboy whose mouth was moving as the booming voice continued to travel through the air.

"That's Big Tex" informed Hermione as she saw her friends stare at the metal giant in awe who were now turned to face her, "he's one of the two main symbols of the fair, him and that giant Ferris wheel called the Texas Star behind you in the distance".

Everyone turned around and they saw a massive metal Ferris wheel with giant letters on the side that spelled out "TEXAS".

"Are you just going to stand there all day or are you going to follow me and have the most fun you're ever going to have?" said Hermione in between laughs "I will warn you though, you won't even want to THINK about food once we finally leave".

Hermione again acted as tour guide and took them all over the fairgrounds, stopping at virtually every stand to try at least one thing on their menu. She took them to the car show, the petting zoo, and multiple rides. Ginny and Luna constantly tried to convince Hermione to take them on the Star but she always just smiled and told them that she wouldn't take them until right before they left, reluctantly Ginny and Luna gave up and simply continued to follow her around the grounds.

Hours later, the sun gone and now replaced by the moon, Hermione and her friends walked (more like wobbled since they were full and slightly tipsy from drinking multiple fried frozen margaritas and eating fried cheesecake, fried beer, fried lemonade and so many other fried confections) toward the line of people waiting to ride the Texas Star.

They waited in line for about five minutes before they were finally ushered into one of the Star's 44 gondolas. As they began to move, Ginny grabbed Blaise's arm and dug her nails in, making Blaise wince in pain.

"Calm down Ginny, it's perfectly safe" said Hermione in a calming voice that seemed to work since Ginny considerably loosened her grip on Blaise's arm.

"Everything looks so beautiful from up here" said Luna.

Normally the sight of the beautiful illuminated Dallas skyline always made Hermione smile and feel at piece but not this time. As she looked at the skyline through the gondola, she felt her eyes begin to water; she tried her hardest to keep them in and continued to turn away from the group and stare out into the night sky so they wouldn't notice, but of course someone did.

"What's wrong love?" whispered Draco.

She turned to face him, gave a fake reassuring smile and shook her head as if to say nothing. Draco didn't buy it.

She'd been somewhat distant from him all day, perhaps the others hadn't noticed but he certainly did. He worried about it all day but didn't show it, and he certainly didn't say anything to anybody.

Draco was not looking forward to waking up at five in the morning and going to the airport. In fact he did not want to return to London at all…not if it meant leaving Hermione. This was another issue that held his attention all day, he thought about just not getting on the plane, but Blaise already had the first class seats reserved and he knew Blaise could not single handedly run the company, no one could, it was a two person job.

He had no intention of leaving his best friend or company just because he wanted to stay with Hermione, even though he loved her more than anything or anyone, so he came up with a possible solution.

The Star suddenly came to a stop and their gondola stood still at the very top only slightly rocking every once and a while. Before Ginny could begin to panic again Hermione reassured her that this was perfectly normal and that in about 10 or so minutes they would get moving again.

Draco saw this as the perfect opportunity to test his solution, and as if fate was trying to help him out, Bruno Mars' song "Marry You" started to play through massive speakers on the ground; Draco took it as a sign.

_It's a beautiful night,  
>we're looking for something dumb to do<br>hey baby, I think I wanna Marry You!_

_Is it that look in your eyes  
>or is it this dancing juice?<br>Who cares baby, I think I wanna Marry You!_

"Hermione?" asked Draco, trying to get her attention

"Yeah?"

"I love you, you know that right?"

Hermione smiled and cupped his cheek with her hand "of course Draco"

"You know I have to return to London tomorrow."

Hermione involuntarily frowned at that, she'd tried to keep that fact far from her mind…and failed miserably, it had been all she could think about since she'd woken up; she simply nodded in reply. She wondered why he'd brought it up but didn't ask, she figured he had his reasons.

_Well I know this little chapel,  
>On the boulevard, we can go<br>no one will know, oh come on girl._

_Who cares if we're trashed  
>got a pocket full of cash<br>we can blow, shots of Patron  
>and it's on girl.<em>

"Well…I was hoping…that maybe…you'd…gobackwithme?" said Draco quickly

Hermione just stared at him, blinking occasionally, did she really just hear that?

"Uh" was all she'd been able to get out.

_Don't say no, no ,no ,no, no  
>just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah<br>and we'll go, go, go, go, go  
>if you're ready, like I'm ready<em>

_Cause it's a beautiful night,  
>we're looking for something dumb to do<br>hey baby, I think I wanna Marry You!_

_Is it that look in your eyes  
>or is it this dancing juice?<br>Who cares baby, I think I wanna Marry You! OH!_

"Hermione, I love you and I know we've only been together for a little over a week but I can't stand to be without you anymore."

She continued to stare at him blankly, it all seemed too good to be true; and it was only about to get better.

Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue Tiffany's box, causing everyone in the gondola to gasp loudly.

_I'll go get a ring,  
>let the choir bells ring like 'OOH!'<br>So whatcha wanna do?  
>Let's just run girl!<em>

Hermione's jaw dropped, she was NOT expecting this.

"Draco!" she gasped out

Draco opened the box and pulled out a velvet box and opened it.

It was a beautiful ring but it was not a super gaudy, massive, multi karat ring like the one Ron had given her. It was the platinum infinity ring that Hermione had always admired since she'd seen it in display case outside of Tiffany's when she and Santi had last gone to Galleria Dallas. The platinum band had miniature diamonds around it and instead of one big diamond; it had diamonds set in platinum that created the infinity symbol.

_If we wake up and  
>you wanna break up, that's cool<br>No, I won't blame you,  
>It was fun, girl.<em>

_Don't say no, no ,no ,no, no  
>just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah<br>and we'll go, go, go, go, go  
>if you're ready, like I'm ready<em>

_Cause it's a beautiful night,  
>we're looking for something dumb to do<br>hey baby, I think I wanna Marry You!_

_Is it that look in your eyes  
>or is it this dancing juice?<br>Who cares baby, I think I wanna Marry You!_

Hermione could not believe what she was hearing.

"Ar-are you serious?" she asked breathlessly "I mean, are you sure I'M the one you want?"

Draco smiled, "I've never been more sure of anything in my whole life, Hermione I love you more than words can say. I've loved you for such a long time and I have no doubt whatsoever that you're the one I want to spend my life with."

Hermione started to tear up, there were so many things going through her mind; if she went, what would she do with her loft? Sell it? Rent it out? Keep it for when she came to visit?

What about her job? She didn't really want to stop performing and if she went with Draco, where would she work? She didn't want to work a boring desk job at the Ministry.

And Santi? He'd been her best friend and confidant for the past four years, would he think that she was abandoning him now that she had her old friends back?

"I…"

_Just say I DO!  
>Tell me right now baby!<br>Tell me right now baby, baby!_

_Just say I DO!  
>Tell me right now baby!<br>Tell me right now baby, baby!_

Hermione looked at Draco, he looked so handsome and he loved her. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and had more than proven that he would do ANYTHING to make her happy.

She stopped thinking about all the "What ifs" and just thought about what really made her happy, and that was Draco. She would find a way to make things work for back in London and Santi would understand, she knew he would, and she would come back to visit him every chance she got.

With tears running down her face, she put her hands and Draco's face and kissed him passionately.

"Is that a yes?" asked Draco smiling after she pulled back.

Hermione laughed through her tears, and nodded, "yes, Draco, of course I'll marry you"

_It's a beautiful night,  
>we're looking for something dumb to do<br>hey baby, I think I wanna Marry You!  
>Is it that look in your eyes<br>or is it this dancing juice?  
>Who cares baby, I think I wanna Marry You!<em>

Hermione and her friends left the State Fair all feeling deliriously happy, Hermione and Draco were happy because they would be together forever and her friends were happy because their friend would be going back to London.

"Best birthday ever" thought Hermione smiling as she walked with Draco hand in hand toward her car, followed by their friends.

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><p><strong>Okay so this really isn't important to the story but the state fair doesn't actually start until like Sept. 24th every year but I thought I would make it start on hermione's birthday for the purpose of the story. and in case you didn't read close enough, the song I used was "Marry You" by Bruno Mars. Oh and if you wanna look at the tiffany ring I described you can look on Tiffany's website because yes the ring actually does exist. And the pony bead bracelet that I wrote about exists too but you won't find a picture for it because it's mine :P I actually made it like a month ago and like the story says I read that line in a fanfic somewhere, i don't remember where but I loved it. I hope you all liked it and like I said there will be an epilogue because there are a few loose ends to tie up. :) Don't forget to review and tell me what you would like to see in the epilogue.<strong>


	34. EPILOGUE! The end

**So we've come to the end *tear tear* lol. As I promised, here is the epilogue. Its not as long as the last chapter but I think it's long enough. I want to thank every single one of my readers and especially those of you that reviewed my story, it helped a lot knowing that you all liked what I wrote. :) I have made sets for Hermione's wedding and they're already up on polyvore if you want to see them. I tried to tie up anything that might have been left open in the last chapter and I think I did just that but if you have any questions that weren't answered, don't hesitate to message me or ask me in your reviews. Enjoy!**

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><p><em><strong>*A year and a half later*<strong>_

Hermione stood in front of a full length mirror, staring at herself in disbelief; she couldn't believe that the woman staring back was actually her. She allowed her mind to wander as she continued to admire her own reflection.

So many things had happened to her over the past eighteen months; she'd agreed to marry Draco and moved back to London two weeks after he and Blaise returned so she could get all her affairs in order. She apologized to the manager at the House of Blues and told him that she would no longer be performing as she was returning to London to get married, while he was sad to see his best performer go, he told her that he understood, she would be greatly missed and wished her all the best in her marriage.

She kept her loft and simply hired a housekeeper to go and clean it every two weeks unless she was in town. Just as she had hoped and predicted, Santi understood her reasons for returning but made her promise that she'd visit often and demanded an invitation to the wedding of the century as he called it, making Hermione laugh.

Someone knocked on the burgundy door behind her, bringing her back to the present.

"Come in" she said

The door opened and closed and she heard someone gasp loudly causing her to turn around and face her visitor and man of honor.

"Oh Mione, you look GORGEOUS!" replied Santi smiling widely

Hermione smiled at her friend, "You don't think it's too much?"

"Oh honey please, you're basically marrying wizarding royalty, nothing can ever be too much"

Hermione laughed and turned to face her reflection again. Her soft brown curls fell down over her shoulders and down her back with only a purple jeweled feather clip in her hair since she decided a veil would be pointless considering her dress was so detailed. She was wearing an extravagant, intricately beaded and not to mention huge Eve of Milady ball gown that she'd gotten at Kleinfelds in New York City six months ago.

She and Santi always got together on Fridays to watch "Say yes to the dress" on TLC; it was one of their favorite shows and Santi always told Hermione that when she got married he would take her to Manhattan and buy her the most beautiful dress at Kleinfelds as his wedding present; he obviously stuck to his word.

_***Flashback***_

"_uh uh that is not the dress" whispered Santi as he saw Hermione walking out into the showroom wearing a Pnina Tornai ivory sweetheart mermaid gown in satin with princess seams and a sweep train._

"_I can hear you" replied Hermione as she walked closer to the pedestal and mirrors "can you at least wait till I step in front of everyone before you slam the dress?"_

_Santi just smiled sweetly as if he hadn't said a word. She finally reached them and stood on a pedestal and turned to face the group of people she'd brought with her, which included Santi, her mom, Draco's mother, and Ginny._

"_Well?" she asked_

"_You already know what I think" said Santi sweetly causing Hermione to roll her eyes._

"_It's quite beautiful" said her mother but nothing else; Ginny simply nodded in agreement but said nothing._

"_It is beautiful but I don't think this is the one, dear" said Narcissa "It seems a bit…plain. You are after all marrying a Malfoy Hermione, and in all honesty, the wedding invitation seems fancier than this dress."_

_Everyone looked at Narcissa with wide eyes and open mouths as if she'd broken some sort of unspoken rule; Hermione though, looked at her kindly; she appreciated her honesty, it was one of the reasons she'd insisted she accompany her in the first place._

_She turned to her appointment consultant Sarah and said, "Alright then, let's go try another one" and went back to her dressing room._

_Five minutes later she came out in a Kenneth Pool Princess ball gown with a sweetheart neckline and a natural waist in tulle._

"_What about this?"_

"_Somewhat better" said Santi to Hermione as she stepped onto the pedestal._

_Hermione's mom and Ginny just shook their heads no._

"_Again, a beautiful dress" Replied Narcissa "but I've never been a fan of the natural waistline, especially on a wedding dress; it makes people think you're hiding something even if you aren't, if you get what I mean."_

_Hermione blushed; no she wasn't pregnant (even though she and Draco had sex pretty much every chance they got) and she certainly didn't want anyone to think she was, so this dress immediately received a rejection._

_She tried on a lace Sottero & Midgley mermaid dress, a silk organza Badgley Mischka, a Lazaro ball gown with a lace bodice and Basque waistline in tulle, and a silvery lace Henry Roth A-line gown, all of which were rejected by her entourage._

_Then it happened; she came out an Eve of Milady princess ball gown with a lace bodice, dropped waist, a skirt that had layered scalloped satin with intricate silver beading and lace on the edge of each scallop and a chapel train._

_She had tears forming in her eyes as she stepped onto the pedestal and turned to face everyone; "what do you all think?" she asked smiling widely, hoping that they'd love it as much as did._

"_Oh my god" said Santi and Ginny in unison; her mother and Narcissa simply stared at her in awe, tears also forming in their eyes._

"_Hermione, it's perfect" replied her mother as a few tears rolled down her cheeks._

"_Oh my dear, you look absolutely flawless in that dress!" exclaimed Narcissa as she also let a few tears escape her eyes._

_Sarah offered her and her guests tissues before asking the line that Hermione had heard so many times on TV; "Are you saying yes to this dress"?_

_Hermione smiled even wider and she also let a few tears flow as she nodded and said, "I am saying yes to this dress."_

_***End Flashback***_

And here she was, six months later, at Malfoy Manor, in her gorgeous dress, a pair of Bermuda blue crystal pearl earrings (something blue), a pair of white Harriet Wilde Sakura satin peep toe pumps (something new) and an Incanto Royale diamond and emerald drop white gold necklace that Narcissa had lent her for the day (something old and something borrowed), waiting to marry the man she loved.

"Nervous?" asked Santi, stepping behind her and turning her around to face him.

"In all honesty, a little; I keep thinking that I'll trip over my dress and fall on my face or that all of a sudden it will start to rain."

Santi had to laugh, "Mione, sweetie, everything will go perfectly and there is not a cloud in the sky. Just look ahead and focus on Draco as you walk down the aisle and you will be fine."

Hermione laughed and hugged her friend, "thanks" she replied.

"Anytime Mione" he said before the burgundy door opened again and in popped the head of Dr. Granger, Hermione's father.

"Oh my darling, you look so beautiful" said her dad, pride evident in his voice.

"I'll leave you two alone" whispered Santi to Hermione as he slipped out of the room.

"Thank you dad" she replied smiling as she walked over to hug him.

"Are you ready love?" he asked her after he pulled back from their hug.

Hermione nodded eagerly.

Dr. Granger grabbed his daughter's hand and led her out the door and down the stairs where her mother and bridal party were waiting for them.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs she saw her mother tearing up again.

"Oh mum, don't cry!" she said as she walked over to her to hug her.

Her mother sniffled as she hugged Hermione back, "I'm sorry darling, you just look so beautiful and I can't believe my only daughter, my little girl, is getting married."

Hermione also started to tear up but willed herself to keep the tears in; she didn't want to ruin her makeup, today of all days.

She turned to face her bridesmaids who wore primrose colored strapless jeweled waisted dresses and plum colored strappy heels. As a gift, Hermione had given each of them a mini parallele tanzanite necklace, a Paloma Picasso Love bracelet and a rhinestone brooch comb, all of which were worn by them today.

It didn't come as a surprise to anyone when Ginny and Luna were asked to be bridesmaids, but the Weasleys (save Ginny of course) were shocked and a bit outraged when they found out that Hermione's third bridesmaid would be none other than Isabella.

She explained countless times that she was not really the home wrecking whore they'd all believed her to be but never seemed to get through to any of them. After she left Dallas, they constantly texted, emailed and even wrote to each other by regular mail; in the time that had passed, they'd become very good friends and Hermione didn't have to think twice about asking her to be a bridesmaid. The Weasleys still weren't too happy about it even now when it was the actual day of her wedding but put up with it because she clearly told them that if they had a problem with the friends she kept then they had no business being at her wedding; they kept their mouths shut ever since.

Santi came in with Narcissa who wanted to see Hermione one more time before she became the new Lady Malfoy.

"Hermione, my dear, you look stunning" said Narcissa taking Hermione's hands into her own "Draco is a very lucky man to have found such a wonderful person as yourself to spend the rest of his life with."

Hermione blushed at her soon to be mother in law's compliment; she squeezed Narcissa's hand before replying "I think we're both lucky to have found one another"

Narcissa pulled her into a hug, trying not to cry; she'd always wanted a daughter and now she was getting not just a daughter but a very good friend.

"It's almost time to start" said Santi causing Hermione and Narcissa to separate.

Narcissa wiped the corners of her eyes before heading over to the table that Santi stood beside and grabbed the four bouquets that were there. She handed the bridesmaids each a white orchid bouquet and handed Hermione a beautiful cascading bouquet of purple orchids and light purple roses.

Hermione's mother and Narcissa both gave Hermione another quick hug before walking over to the massive French doors that opened up to the garden where the ceremony was taking place. Santi also hugged her once more and kissed her on the cheek before heading over to both mothers and with one on each arm walked out as violinists began to play.

Each bridesmaid did the same as they proceeded to walk down the aisle; first was Isabella, who on her way down the aisle winked at her boyfriend Brandon who was sitting along the edge of the aisle just so he could clearly see her walk by. Next was Luna who smiled shyly and blushed as she locked eyes with harry who was at the end of the aisle standing next to Blaise since was one of Draco's Groomsmen. Then Ginny walked out and smiled the entire way down and also winked at Blaise at the end of the aisle as he stood next to Draco since he was the best man.

The violinists began to play the song Hermione had heard countless times in movies and at other people's weddings, the one she'd one day hoped she would be hearing before she walked down the aisle.

"Ready darling?" asked her father as he held out his arm.

Hermione smiled and she took his arm and said "I'm ready".

They walked out into the Manor's garden as all the guests rose to see her, but she wasn't looking at them; her eyes were locked on Draco as his were on her.

It was a beautiful ceremony and as the couple kissed at the end, the wind blew causing the cherry blossom tree behind them to shake, showering them with pink cherry blossoms.

The reception was held in one of the Manor's many ballrooms; Hermione and Draco danced to "Make you feel my love" by Adele which was obviously special to them since it was the song that was playing the first time they made love. They all partied until the wee hours of the next morning, after which, Hermione and Draco left for their month long honeymoon in Greece.

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><p>When they returned, they were greeted with the news that Harry and Luna were getting married, as were Ginny and Blaise, along with Isabella and Brandon; of course not all at once.<p>

The week after they returned Hermione went out to lunch with Ginny, Luna and Isabella to catch up with them and congratulate them on their upcoming weddings. Before she could ask either of them about their wedding plans, they all shouted out "will you be my matron of honor" (not maid because she was already married), leaving her with her mouth open, not knowing what to say. After having a few minutes to let things sink in, she said yes to each of them; knowing that she was probably stretching herself thin but she loved her friends and would do anything for them.

Turns out she didn't stretch herself too thin; Isabella and Luna were the firsts to get married, with their ceremonies three months apart. Lucky for her they both decided to have small intimate weddings so there was not that much running around.

The same however, could not be said about Ginny Weasley's wedding. It was quite the event, to say the least and Ginny was quite the demanding bride. She and Hermione ran around all over London to find the perfect dress, which they didn't find so she insisted that Hermione go with her to New York so she could find a dress at Kleinfelds.

After a long day at Kleinfelds, Ginny found what she thought was the perfect dress. Hermione stifled a laugh when she realized that the dress Ginny picked for herself was the same silvery lace Henry Roth A-line gown that she had tried on almost a year ago, that Ginny had insisted was not nearly glamorous enough for her wedding.

Four months and multiple trips between London and New York for fittings later, Hermione stood at the alter wearing a beautiful midnight blue, one shoulder floor length gown staring at Ginny with a smile on her face as she watched her friend walk down the aisle to marry Blaise. She looked over at Blaise and saw such a look of happiness on the dark skinned Italian's face; she couldn't help but smile wider. Her eye was caught by the best man who was none other than her husband, he winked at her and she winked back as she thought back to the day of their wedding.

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><p>Nine months later, Hermione gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who they named Scorpius Alexander; Draco had wanted Scorpius Hyperion but Hermione insisted that he had at least a somewhat average middle name to balance out Scorpius since it was definitely not your average name.<p>

He was looked every bit like his father but he carried a bit of his mother in his curly blond hair. He was the apple of both his grandmothers' eyes as soon as they laid their eyes on him, everyone promising the sleeping baby that they were going to spoil him.

A month later, Isabella gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl named Aria Marie.

Six months after Isabella had Aria, Ginny and Luna gave birth on the same day only hours apart; Ginny had a baby girl whom she and Blaise named Rosalia Siena. Luna on the other hand, had twin boys whom she and Harry named James Severus (if you're a real fan, you'll get the irony in this lol) and Albus Sirius.

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><p><em><strong>*Five years later*<strong>_

Hermione stood in front of the giant French doors of Malfoy manor as she saw Scorpius sitting under the cherry blossom tree reading as Louis sat on his lap. He may look mostly like his father but he certainly got his love of reading from her which made her smile.

She began to slowly rub her protruding belly as she continued to look at her son when she felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her.

"You okay love?" asked Draco as he rested his hands on top of hers on her belly.

"I'm fine" she replied "I was just watching Scorpius"

She gasped loudly.

"What's wrong?" asked Draco growing worried.

Hermione turned around to face her husband, smiled and brought his hand to the side of her stomach.

Draco gasped loudly as he felt something against his palm move.

Hermione grinned widely when she realized that he'd felt the kick as well.

"Who did you think it was?" asked Draco smiling at his wife.

"Considering the force of the kick, I think it was Lyra" replied Hermione laughing a bit.

She was pregnant with twin girls who she and Draco had already agreed to name Ara Elena and Lyra Valencia. Not the most common names but Draco insisted on continuing the Black family tradition of naming their children after constellations; Hermione relented but only after Draco agreed to let her pick out their middle names just as she had with Scorpius.

Draco also laughed before pulling his wife into his arms as kissing her lightly.

The couple continued to stand in front of the doors embracing each other and kissing until Draco heard something that sounded like water splashing on the floor and then Hermione pulled back and gasped loudly, eyes wide with shock.

"Wha-"was all Draco was able to get out before Hermione interrupted him.

"I think my water just broke."

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><p><strong>SO! :D Did you like it? Did you hate it? :( I hope not lol. Sequel? I'm not sure. Maybe but right now I don't see what could happen but you never know, a random idea might pop into my head out of nowhere :P Please don't forget to review! And THANK YOU once again for staying and following my story until the end, it means a lot to me. Considering how much positive feedback I've gotten for this, I don't think I did half bad for my first fanfic ever haha.<strong>


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